Saudi Arabia's Unemployment Rate Drops to 4.4% in Q4 2023: Key Insights on Local Workforce Participation, Female Unemployment, and Job Seeker Preferences
In the fourth quarter of 2023, Saudi Arabia's overall unemployment rate decreased to 4.4%, a 0.4 percentage point drop from the same period in 2022.
The joblessness rate also declined by 0.7 percentage points compared to the previous three months.
However, non-employment among Saudi nationals remained high at 7.7%, a 0.3 percentage point decrease from the previous year.
The participation of locals in the labor force decreased by 1.2 percentage points year on year, reaching 51.3%.
Reducing unemployment and increasing local workforce participation are key objectives of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, with goals to decrease the unemployment rate to 7% and increase women's participation in the workforce to 30% by the end of the decade.
In the fourth quarter, the unemployment rate for Saudi females dropped 2.6 percentage points to 13.7%, while it remained steady at 4.6% for males.
The labor force participation for males decreased slightly to 66.6%.
The employment-to-population ratio for women increased by 0.6 percentage points to 30.7%.
A GASTAT survey found that 94.9% of unemployed Saudi nationals are open to working in the private sector.
Additionally, 80.1% of non-employed females and 91% of males expressed willingness to work eight hours or more per day.
Lastly, 62.1% of non-employed females and 43.8% of males are willing to commute for up to an hour.
The majority of Saudi job seekers, 85.6%, use personal connections to find work.
Additionally, 73% apply directly to employers and 59.4% utilize the National Employment Platform (Jadarat).