Employment of 102 thousand Saudis during 2017 and the exit of 466 thousand foreigners from the labor market

Media In / Riyadh 30 April 2018
The quarterly labor market bulletin issued by the General Organization for Statistics today revealed that the number of Saudi employees by the end of 2017 amounted to 3,163,846 employees, up 102,449 employees compared to the end of 2016, while the number of foreign workers during the same period was 466,040 employed, which means The presence of 363,591 jobs was occupied by foreigners and was not filled with Saudis.
According to the bulletin, the number of employees in the Saudi economy registered at the end of the fourth quarter of 2017 the number of 13,581,141 employed, compared to 11,944,732 employed by the end of the fourth quarter of 2016, a decrease of 363,591 employed.
The decline in the number of workers in the number of foreign workers, which declined to 10,417,295 employed by the end of the fourth quarter of 2017, from 10,883,335 employed by the end of the fourth quarter of 2016, that there are 466,040 foreigners lost their jobs in 2017.
On the other hand, the data of the bulletin shows that the number of Saudis employed rose to 3,163,846 employed by the end of 2017 compared to 3,061,397 employed by the end of 2016. In 2017, the labor market absorbed 102,449 Saudi workers at the expense of the decline in the number of foreign workers. However, it remained 363,591 jobs occupied by foreigners They were not replaced by Saudis.
By the end of 2017, the number of Saudis seeking work was 1,086,561. The number of jobs lost by foreigners and not replaced by Saudis is 33.5% of the total number of Saudis looking for work and need to intensify the work and rehabilitation to attract Saudi youth in light of the comprehensive restructuring witnessed by the Saudis The Saudi economy in all fields.
The unemployment rate for Saudis was 12.8% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2017 compared to the third quarter of the same year. However, the annual comparison indicates that the unemployment rate among Saudis rose from 12.3% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2016.
However, the bulletin showed a noticeable improvement in Saudi women’s employment indicators. The unemployment rate among Saudi females dropped to 31% by the end of the fourth quarter of 2017 compared to 34.5% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2016.