Saudi Arabia: The unemployment rate of Saudi nationals in the third quarter of 2022 has risen to 9.9 percent, compared to 9.7 percent in the second quarter of this year, according to data released by the General Authority for Statistics.

The GASTAT report noted that the unemployment rate of the total population in Saudi Arabia remained unchanged at 5.8 percent in the third quarter.  

This data comes as the labor force participation rate of Saudis increased by 0.7 percentage points to 52.5 percent, and the employment-to-population ratio of Saudis increased by 0.5 pp to 47.3 percent.  

The GASTAT data noted that the unemployment rate among Saudi Arabian females rose to 20.5 percent in the third quarter, up 1.2 pp from last quarter, and down 1.4 pp from a year ago.

According to the report, the increase in the unemployment rate in the third quarter was accompanied by an expansion of Labor force participation that outpaced employment growth. 

Unemployment rates among Saudi Arabian males, however, fell to 4.3 percent in the third quarter, down 0.4 pp from the last quarter, and down to 1.6 pp compared to a year ago.

Among Saudi female youth, aged between 15 to 24, the unemployment rate fell by 2.6 pp to 27.9 percent, as labor participation rate rose to 1.4 pp to 20.2 percent and the employment-to-population ratio increased by 1.5 pp to 14.6 percent. 

The unemployment rate among Saudi male youth also dropped by 0.8 pp to 10.9 percent. 

“Among Saudi male youth, the unemployment rate fell, accompanied by a contraction in labor market participation and employment losses. The participation rate fell 1.3 pp to 37.6 percent, the employment-to-population ratio fell 0.8 pp to 33.5 percent and the unemployment rate fell 0.8 pp to 10.9 percent,” said GASTAT in the report. 

According to the report, 73.7 percent of unemployed Saudi females and 90.3 percent of unemployed Saudi males said that they would accept work for eight hours or more per day. 

“93.3 percent of unemployed Saudis would accept employment in private sector. Results of the survey showed that 58.4 percent of unemployed Saudi females and 42.6 percent of unemployed Saudi males would accept a maximum commuting time to work of one hour,” added GASTAT in the report. 

The report further noted that 75.2 percent of job seekers asked friends or relatives to procure a job, while 57.3 percent applied directly to employers. 

Newspaper advertisements and magazines were used by 50 percent of job seekers, followed by 48.2 percent who used the Jadarah platform. 44.5 percent and 8.1 percent of job seekers made use of two government platforms, TAQAT and Saad respectively.