The total number of workers in the Kingdom's private sector reached 6,991,200 in the fiscal year 1431H-1432H (2010-2011), 10.37 percent of which were Saudis at 724,655, the Saudi Ministry of Labor's statistics report said. Non-Saudi workers reached 6,266,545, representing 89.63 percent of the total. Riyadh region registered the highest number of workers at 2,396,632, of which 259,994 were Saudis at 10.85 percent. Second came Makkah Region with 1,516,284 workers, 11.33 percent of them were Saudis. The Eastern Region has 507,042 workers, of which 196,286 were Saudis at 13.02 percent. In Al-Qassim region, the number of workers reached 438,675, of which 23,711 were Saudis at 5.41 percent, while in Asir region, there were 294,076 workers, of which 17,450 were Saudis at 5.93 percent. The number of workers in Madina reached 266,415, of which 25,013 were Saudis at 9.39 percent. In Hail, the number of workers hit 143,707, of which 4,684 were Saudis at 3.26 percent. In Najran, the number of workers stood at 103,503, of which 4,079 were Saudis at 3.94 percent. In Al-Jouf, the number of workers was 86,654, of which 3,602 were Saudis at 4.16 percent. In Jizan, workers grew to 77,378, of which 5,923 were Saudis at 7.65 percent. In Tabuk, meanwhile, the number reached 73,368, of which 6,046 were Saudis at 8.27 percent. In Al-Baha, the number totaled 46,050, of which 3,138 were Saudis at 6.81 percent. The Northern Frontier registered the smallest number of workers at 41,416, of which 2,854 were Saudis at 6.89 percent. The report further showed that the number of licenses issued by labor offices around the Kingdom reached 3,345,630, a 4 percent increase from last year. Licenses issued to male applicants reached 3,289,095, while that of female applicants hit 56,535. Riyadh again registered the largest number of licenses issued at 1,181,427. Second came the Eastern Province at 819,109; then Makkah Region at 663,550; Al-Qassim Region 246,585; Asir at 111,998; Madina at 99,651; Hail at 63,383; Najran at 45,360; Al-Jouf at 34,539; Tabuk at 26,063; Al-Baha at 19,738; Jizan at 16,926. The Northern Frontier registered the smallest number of licenses issued at 16,730. Saudi Labor Minister Adel M. Fakieh said last month at the Sixth Global Competitiveness Forum that the Kingdom needs to create three million job opportunities by 2015, and six million by 2030. He said employment generation continues to be Saudi Arabia's main challenge and the government has been taking initiatives to tackle the three focus areas (job demand, job supply and market clearance) during the past 12 months. "Many of them have already been launched while others are either in the pipeline or conceptual stage," he noted.
