RIYADH — The number of Saudi citizens joining the private sector for the first time doubled in July to exceed 34600 citizens, compared to 16500 in June. This figure shows their number increased more than two times within just one month. A recent report, released by the National Labor Observatory, revealed that the total number of workers in the private sector reached 11.473 million last month, compared to 11.409 million workers in the previous month of June, while the number of citizens exceeded 2.342 million, compared to 2.340 million in June. The report revealed that the number of expatriates working in the private sector reached about 9.131 million in July, compared to June, when the number of foreign workers reached 9.068 million. The number of Saudi men working in the private sector reached about 1.385 million, while the number of Saudi women stood at 956600 in July, compared to 1.383 million men and 957700 women during June. The observatory recently revealed that the labor force participation rate in the Kingdom jumped to 61.2 percent in 2021 from 55 percent in 2016, making Saudi Arabia the highest increase in the labor force participation rate among the G20 countries by 6.2 percent, followed by Japan in second place by only 2.2 percent. The latest report by the observatory also revealed that the growth rate of females in the labor market reached 5.5 percent, compared to 2.1 percent for Australia or less for the rest of the G20 countries, and the growth rate for males in the Kingdom reached 1.7 percent, compared to Australia, which recorded 1.5 percent, and the rate is lower for the rest of the G20 countries. The factors for the growth of the labor force in the Saudi labor market came based on several reasons, most notably initiatives supporting female participation, the high percentage of youth among the population, in addition to the attractiveness of the market in the Kingdom as a result of economic growth. According to the latest report, the Kingdom is ranked among the highest countries in terms of male labor force participation rates, ranking second after Indonesia and the rest of the G20 countries. The Kingdom is among the top 10 countries in the G20 in terms of employment rate, reaching 57 percent, and ranked first in terms of the percentage of change in female employment rate, which increased by 10 percent from 2016 to 2021, while the country recorded a high rate of male employment, reaching 76 percent. The National Labor Observatory noted that the factors for increasing employment rates in the Kingdom lie in designing sectoral strategies to develop human capital, aligning education outcomes with the skills required in the labor market, in addition to supporting job growth and localization in various sectors. The factors for increasing employment rates also include developing the skills of the workforce for the future in light of technological developments, enhancing participation in modern work patterns including remote work, and flexible work and developing supportive policies and programs such as income support and social protection. It is noteworthy that the unemployment rate for all Saudis witnessed a decrease of 7.6 percent during the first quarter of this year, compared to 7.8 percent during the last quarter of 2023, as it became closer to the target of "Vision 2030", which is set at 7 percent.
