S. Arabia’s unemployment rate drops to 3.3% in Q2 ’24

Saudi Arabia’s unemployment rate fell to 3.3 per cent in the second quarter of 2024, marking a 0.2 percentage point drop from Q1 2024 and a 0.8 percentage point decline year-on-year (YoY). The unemployment rate for Saudis was 7.1 per cent, down by 0.5 percentage points from the previous quarter and by 1.4 percentage points from Q2 2023.

For Saudi females, unemployment dropped to 12.8 per cent, a 1.4 percentage point decline from Q1 2024, while their employment-to-population ratio rose to 30.8 per cent. Saudi males experienced a slight decline in unemployment to 4.0 per cent, while their labor force participation rate fell to 66.3 per cent.

Among the core working-age group (25-54 years), the unemployment rate decreased by 6.2 per cent from Q1 2024, while the employment-to-population ratio reached 64.5 per cent. Saudi job seekers used an average of five active methods in their search. The method of asking friends or relatives about job opportunities was the most commonly used job search method recording 89.7%, followed by directly applying to employers by 78.1%, and the use of the national unified employment platform (Jadarat) by 69.0%.

Attribution: General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT)

Subediting: M. S. Salama