The total workforce in Saudi Arabia’s private sector has reached a new high, with the count exceeding 11.4 million individuals as of June, marking an increase from approximately 11.3 million in May.
Encouragingly, unemployment rates among Saudis continue to decline. In the first quarter of 2024, the rate dropped to 7.6%, nearing the Vision 2030 target of 7%. This improvement represents a slight decrease from the 7.8% recorded in the final quarter of 2023, according to the General Authority for Statistics’ labor market report for Q1 2024.
On Wednesday, the National Labor Observatory (NLO) released a detailed summary of the Saudi private sector’s employment data for June. The report highlighted a net increase of 16,500 jobs for citizens entering the workforce for the first time that month.
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The report further detailed that over 2.3 million Saudi nationals were employed in the private sector in June, with 1.4 million males and approximately 957,000 females. Meanwhile, the total number of expatriate workers in the private sector stood at around 9 million, including 8.7 million male and 376,000 female expatriates.
Preceding this, the NLO’s May report showed a total of 11.3 million workers in the private sector. At that time, the Saudi workforce included 2.3 million citizens, with 1.3 million males and over 971,000 females, and approximately 9 million expatriates, comprising 8.6 million males and 371,000 females.
The report also reviewed the net job growth for Saudi citizens in May, with an additional 30,800 joining the private sector.
Established in 2010, the NLO regularly issues reports and publications that provide periodic analyses of market indicators and statistics. Among these is a monthly overview of the Saudi labor market in the private sector, offering key figures from the previous month and serving as a trusted source for labor market data.
