Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — As many as 273,860 workers, of whom 96.4 percent expatriates, have left the labor market in the third quarter of 2018, the Arabic daily Al-Watan reported on Sunday quoting figures released by the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI).

The organization said the total number of the workers registered with GOSI during the second quarter of 2018 was 9,093,733.

It said 268 Saudi women left the market while 3,488 expatriate women joined the market during the period. GOSI said the number of the Saudi workers registered with it as 1,936,000 during the third quarter of 2018, down from 1,946,000 during the second quarter.

It said the number of the expatriate workers was 7.157 million in the third quarter, down from 7.421 million in the second quarter. It meant that about 264,000 expatriates have left the job market during the period.

GOSI said 8,405 Saudi men and 268 Saudi women quit the labor market during the quarter. It said the number of the expatriate women in the labor market in the third quarter of 2018 was 220,348, up from 216,860 in the second quarter, meaning 3,488 foreign women came to work in the Kingdom newly.

According to the organization, there were 7.204 million expatriate men in the labor market during the second quarter of 2018 but their number decreased to 6.936 million in the third quarter.

Market sources attributed the drop in the number of expatriate workforce in the country to an aggressive campaign launched by the Ministry of Labor and Social Development to nationalize jobs in many sectors.