Almost all unemployed Saudis ready to join private sector

Pexels/Mikhail Nilov

• Citizen unemployment fell to 8.3% in Q1
• 95% willing to work in private sector
• Female unemployment rate down to 15.7%

Almost 95 percent of unemployed Saudi nationals are open to taking up jobs in the private sector, according to the latest survey by the kingdom’s statistical authority.

Unemployment among citizens of the kingdom state declined marginally to 8.3 percent in the second quarter from 8.5 percent in the first quarter of 2023.

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The overall unemployment rate, including Saudis and non-Saudis, reached 4.9 percent in the second quarter of 2023, down 0.9 percentage points year on year, the General Authority for Statistics said.

The female unemployment rate fell to 15.7 percent, down 0.4 percentage points from last quarter. However, the rate for males remained unchanged, at 4.6 percent unemployed.

Among the most frequently used job search methods were referrals (85.6 percent) and applying directly to employers (70.9 percent), followed by the use of the national employment platform (61.3 percent).

Almost 59 percent of unemployed Saudi females and 45 percent of unemployed Saudi males were willing to accept a maximum commuting time to work of one hour.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2016 unveiled the Vision 2030 plan and one of the key goals was to create more jobs for Saudi nationals and expand the kingdom’s private sector.