RIYADH: The unemployment rate for Saudis decreased to 9.7 percent in the second quarter of 2022, a drop of 0.4 percentage points compared to the first quarter of 2022, according to data released by the General Authority for Statistics.
This comes as the labor force participation rate of Saudis increased by 1.7 percentage points to reach 51.8 percent, and the employment-to-population ratio of Saudis increased by 1.7 percentage points, reaching 46.8 percent compared to the last year, the GASTAT report added.
The unemployment rate among Saudi males decreased to reach 4.7 percent, dropping down by 0.3 pp from the first quarter of 2022.
“The decrease in the unemployment rate of Saudi males this quarter coincided with both an expansion of labor market participation and employment growth, where the participation rate went up by 1.5 percentage points to 67.5 percent and the employment-to-population ratio increased by 1.6 percentage points reaching 64.3 percent,” GASTAT said in the report.
In the second quarter of 2022, the unemployment rate of the Saudi Arabian total population was recorded at 5.8 percent, a drop of 0.2 percentage points compared to the first quarter of 2021, and down 0.8 percentage points compared to the second quarter of 2021.