Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Saudi women's participation in the labor force recorded an increase of 0.8 percentage points reaching 36.2 percent during the third quarter of 2024. This was revealed in the Labor Market Bulletin for the third quarter of 2024, issued by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) on Tuesday.

The bulletin figures showed that the unemployment rate among Saudis in the third quarter of 2024 was 7.8 percent, an increase of 0.7 percent compared to second quarter of 2024, and a year-on-year decrease of one percent from the third quarter of 2023. The bulletin also showed that the Saudi and non-Saudi labor force stood at 66.6 percent in third quarter of this year, a 0.4 percent increase over Q2 of 2024.

Among Saudis, the labor force grew by 0.7 percentage points in third quarter of 2024 reaching 51.5percent, marking a year-on-year increase of 0.7 percentage points. The employment-to-population ratio among Saudis went up by 0.2 percentage points, reaching 47.4 percent, or an annual growth of 1.1 percentage points.

The bulletin also highlighted that the employment-to-population ratio among Saudi women rose by 0.5 percentage points, reaching 31.3 percent. Among Saudi women aged 15–24, participation in the labor force increased by 1 percentage point to 18 percent, while the employment-to-population ratio among this age group rose by 0.6 percentage points to 13.6 percent, in Q3 of 2024.

Participation in the labor force among young Saudi men increased, by 1.1 percentage points, to 34.6 percent. Among Saudi men in general, participation in the labor force increased by 0.6 percentage points, to 66.9percent , and the employment-to-population ratio reached 63.7 percent.

Among Saudi men and women in the prime working-age group (25–54 years), participation in the labor force rose by 0.7 percentage points, to 69.4percent and the employment-to-population ratio increased by 0.3 percentage points, to 64.8 percent, the bulletin pointed out.