RIYADH — The unemployment rate among Saudi nationals dropped to an all-time low of 6.3% in the first quarter of 2025, marking the lowest level since the Kingdom began publishing labor force data, according to the latest figures released by the General Authority for Statistics. This historic decline was largely attributed to the increasing participation of Saudi women in the labor market. The female unemployment rate fell to a record-low 10.5%, a year-on-year drop of 3.6 percentage points. Meanwhile, the labor force participation rate among Saudi women edged up by 0.3 percentage points to reach 36.3%, while the employment-to-population ratio rose by 0.7 percentage points to 32.5%. The unemployment rate among Saudi men also continued its downward trend, falling slightly to 4.0%, a year-on-year decline of 0.2 percentage points. Across the broader labor market, including both Saudis and non-Saudis, the overall unemployment rate fell to 2.8% in Q1 2025, compared to 3.5% during the same quarter a year earlier. The Kingdom had initially set an ambitious Vision 2030 target to reduce Saudi unemployment to 7% by the end of the decade, an objective it surpassed ahead of schedule by the end of 2024. As a result, the government has revised its target downward to 5% by 2030. In its concluding statement last week following Article IV consultations, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) commended Saudi Arabia's ongoing labor market reforms, noting that the unemployment rate among Saudi citizens had already dropped to 7% in 2024, well ahead of Vision 2030 targets.
