Saudi unemployment down to 10.1% amid rise in oil prices

Saudi Arabia’s unemployment fell to 10.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2022, down from 11 per cent at the end of last year, the state-run General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) announced yesterday.

GASTAT said in its report that the kingdom’s female unemployment rate had declined to “20.2 per cent, compared to 22.5 per cent at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021,” noting that this was the “lowest since 2001.”

The report added that the unemployment rate among males had dropped to “5.1 per cent during the first quarter of 2022, compared to 5.2 per cent in the previous quarter.”

The authority explained that the female participation labour force participation rate had exceeded the “2020 National Transformation Programme target, which was set at 17 per cent.” It added that the labour force participation rate for Saudi males had risen to “66 per cent, marking a 2.7 per cent increase compared to 2019.”

“The labor force participation rate of the total working age population (Saudis and non-Saudis) reached 60.4 per cent during the first quarter of 2022, compared to 61.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2021,” GASTAT said.

In another high-profile acquisition, Saudi Arabia in talks to buy stakes in Aston Martin