JEDDAH — The total number of Saudi men and women who have been employed in the local labor market during the first half of 2022 crossed 188,000. This shows that an average of 1039 Saudis entered the employment market on a daily basis during the period, according to monitoring carried out by Okaz/Saudi Gazette based on government reports. This brings the total number of Saudis working in the employment market to about 3.64 million. This figure marked an increase of 5.45 percent compared to the figures by the end of 2021. It was revealed in the monitoring that the employment of Saudi women continued its strong growth, bringing the total number of Saudi women working in the local market to about 1.38 million, an increase of 8.34 percent compared to last year. More than 106,000 women entered the labor market, with an average employment of about 585 Saudi women on a daily basis. The number of Saudi working men jumped to 2.26 million, with more than 82,000 individuals entering the labor market in the first six months of the current year. This marked an increase in their employment rate to 3.77 percent. According to the monitoring, the average number of Saudi workers registered continuous growth for the fourth consecutive quarter, with about 358,000 male and female citizens entering the labor market in 12 months, starting from the third quarter of 2021 until the end of the second quarter of the current year 2022. The economic boom recorded steady growth at the local level and subsequently, the number of non-Saudi workers exceeded the mark of 10 million workers, as their number reached about 10.53 million workers, an increase of 9.76 percent. There have been an entry of more than 936,000 male and female expatriates into the labor market in the first six months of 2022 and their average income is SR5174. It is noteworthy that Minister of Human Resources and Social Development Ahmed Al-Rajhi recently revealed that the number of Saudis working in the private sector reached 2.2 million young men and women. He noted that Saudi unemployment recorded the lowest level in 20 years at 9.7 percent and that efforts will be made to reduce the unemployment rate to 7 percent so as to reach the target set by the Saudi Vision 2030.
