The unemployment rate across Saudi Arabia’s job market has dropped to 7% in the fourth quarter of 2024, as per the latest report of The General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT). 

What is the current workforce participation rate for Saudis?

The report underlined the goal of reducing unemployment by 7 percent under the Vision 2030 target, and the Kingdom has successfully achieved it five years ahead of the target. 

Due to the rapid decline in the unemployment rate, the original target of reaching 7% by 2030 was revised to 5% by 2025.

GASTAT underlined that the unemployment rate dropped by 0.8 percentage points from the previous quarter i.e. Q3 2024, and showed the same decrease compared to the same period last year as well i.e. Q4 2023. 

In the current quarter i.e. in the Q4 of 2024, the Kingdom’s overall unemployment rate for the total Saudi population stood at 3.5%, which is a 0.2 percentage point drop from the previous quarter.

If we look at the workforce participation for the total population was 66.4%, while for Saudis specifically, it was 51.1% — down 0.4 percentage points from Q3 2024 but up 0.7 percentage points year-on-year.

Here are the key highlights from GASTAT Labour force report

Among Saudi women, the unemployment rate has decreased to 11.9% (down by 1.7 percentage points in the previous quarter). The current workforce participation stands at 36.2%. Their employed-to-population ratio rose to 31.8%. Additionally, the younger generation of Saudi women i.e. aged between 15-24, the participation rate increased by 1.0 percentage point to 18.0%, and their employment-to-population ratio rose by 0.6 percentage points to 13.6% in Q3 2024.

Among Saudi men, the unemployment rate has dropped to 4.3%, with a labour force participation rate of 66.2%. And their workforce participation has increased by 0.6 percentage points, reaching 66.9%. Their employment-to-population ratio of 63.7%. And among the young Saudi males, the workforce participation rate has increased by 1.1 percentage points to 34.6%. Additionally, the core working-age group for Saudi male workers is 25-54 years, and their participation rate has increased by 0.7 percentage points to 69.4%. And the employment-to-population ratio rose by 0.3 percentage points to 64.8%.

And overall employed-to-population ratio for Saudis has increased to 47.5%, marking a one percentage point increase from Q4 2023.

Popular job search methods used by Saudis

The report also highlighted the methods used by the Saudi job seekers. They use a variety of job search methods, and average five different job search approaches per person. The most common method is seeking opportunities through: 

• A significant share i.e. 87.7% of the job seekers prefer job referrals from friends or relatives
• Followed by 75% of them directly applying for the vacant positions posted by the employers  of different channels.
• And lastly, 71.2% of the job seekers actually use the Unified National Employment Platform (Jadarat). 

Saudi Arabia's continued focus on economic reforms and job creation has driven remarkable progress in reducing unemployment and increasing workforce participation.

For women, it is exploring ways such as extended benefits, flexible working options, and encouraging them to take on more leadership roles to ensure their continued workforce participation.

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In addition, they are backing Saudization efforts across the private sector to boost workforce participation in key industries. They are offering learning and skill development opportunities to all, enabling people to acquire emerging tech skills, become future-ready to meet the evolving needs of industries, and secure better opportunities for local talent.