Unemployment Rate in Saudi Arabia Dives to 9.8 per cent

Khaleej Times

Speaking to reporters at the ministry’s headquarters in Riyadh on Sunday, Al-Gossaibi explained that the ministry had taken measures to cut unemployment, which had fallen from 8 per cent to 6.0 per cent among Saudi men and from 26.6 per cent to 24.9 per cent among Saudi women.

He said the total Saudi workforce had reached 4.078 million in February 2008 and included 3.42 million men and 656,972 women. He added that 3.68 million, including 3.19 million men and 493,183 women, were employed. The number of unemployed Saudis fell from 454,000 to 400,000, representing 9.8 per cent of the total Saudi work force, including 236,000 men and 164,000 women.

He added that 79 percent of unemployed Saudi men hold secondary school certificates or below, while 124,874 unemployed Saudi women have university degrees. Such women represent about 76 percent of unemployed Saudi women.

He attributed the fall in unemployment to the government’s efforts to Saudise jobs and growing government spending on development projects. Deputy Labour Minister Abdul Wahid Al-Humaid said the ministry had tried to make use of the Kingdom’s economic boom to increase job opportunities for Saudis. He said unemployment among Saudi women graduates was due to social factors. “Some companies also fear that employing women is expensive,” he said.

He said that the ministry would cooperate with contractors implementing government projects by providing them with necessary recruitment visas. “We have reduced the Saudisation rate for contracting companies from 30 to five percent. We provide recruitment visas to the main contractor to meet labour requirements for a project. But subcontractors also apply for visas for the same project, causing duplication.