The General Authority for Statistics (GaStats) has released the Labor Market Bulletin for the first quarter of 2018 on its official website, www.stats.gov.sa, based on estimates from the quarterly labor force survey conducted by the Authority, and labor market data derived from administrative records held by relevant agencies (the Ministry of Labor and Social Development, the Ministry of Civil Service, the General Organization for Social Insurance, the Human Resources Development Fund, and the National Information Center).
The results of the bulletin for the first quarter of 2018 indicated that the total number of employed persons, based on administrative records in the Kingdom for the first quarter of 2018, reached (13,333,513) individuals, compared to (13,581,141) individuals in the fourth quarter of 2017, The first quarter of 2018 also saw a decrease in the number of non-Saudi workers, based on administrative records in the Kingdom, by (234,191) individuals compared to the fourth quarter of 2017, reaching (10,183,104) individuals compared to (10,417,295) in the previous quarter. The total number of Saudi workers reached (3,150,409) individuals.
The economic participation rate for the total population (aged 15 and older), based on estimates from the Labor Force Survey for the first quarter of 2018, was (55.5 %) compared to (55.6 %) for the fourth quarter of 2017. In contrast, the economic participation rate for the total Saudi population rose to (41.89 %) compared to (41.86 %) in the previous quarter, as the economic participation rate for Saudi males (aged 15 and older) rose to (% 63.5) compared to (% 63.4) in the previous quarter. Similarly, the economic participation rate for Saudi women (aged 15 and older) rose to (% 19.5) compared to (19.4 %) in the previous quarter.
The results also indicated that the unemployment rate for the total population (aged 15 and older) reached (6.1 ?) in the first quarter of 2018, compared to (6.0 % ) in the fourth quarter of 2017. The unemployment rate for the total Saudi population (aged 15 and older), based on estimates from the first-quarter 2018 Labor Force Survey, (12.9 %), while this quarter saw a decline in the unemployment rate for Saudi women, reaching (30.9 %) compared to (31.0 %) in the fourth quarter of 2017, In contrast, the unemployment rate for Saudi men rose to (7.6 %) compared to (7.5 %) in the previous quarter.
