In 2023, Saudi Arabia's estimated unemployment rate amounted to approximately 4.88 percent. This decrease is down almost 1 percent from the year before. The unemployment rate is defined as the percentage of unemployed workers in the total labor force.
Where are people employed?
Saudi Arabia's population is around 33 million inhabitants, and of the employed workforce, most have jobs in the oil and gas industry. This is to be expected, as the economy is based on the production and trade of oil, and as such the oil sector has a value of about 1.1 trillion Saudi riyals.
Facing challenges
Saudi Arabia has several economic challenges to face, including the environmentally disastrous impact of its oil and natural gas production; state-funded company Saudi Aramco is listed at the top polluter worldwide. Socially, Saudi Arabia has had a tumultuous past in terms of women's rights, where women only gained the right to drive in 2018 thanks to a series of reforms and compose just 18 percent of the labor force.
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World Bank. (June 28, 2024). Saudi Arabia: Unemployment rate from 1999 to 2023 [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved October 07, 2024, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/262524/unemployment-rate-in-saudi-arabia/
World Bank. "Saudi Arabia: Unemployment rate from 1999 to 2023." Chart. June 28, 2024. Statista. Accessed October 07, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/262524/unemployment-rate-in-saudi-arabia/
World Bank. (2024). Saudi Arabia: Unemployment rate from 1999 to 2023. Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: October 07, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/262524/unemployment-rate-in-saudi-arabia/
World Bank. "Saudi Arabia: Unemployment Rate from 1999 to 2023." Statista, Statista Inc., 28 Jun 2024, https://www.statista.com/statistics/262524/unemployment-rate-in-saudi-arabia/
World Bank, Saudi Arabia: Unemployment rate from 1999 to 2023 Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/262524/unemployment-rate-in-saudi-arabia/ (last visited October 07, 2024)
Saudi Arabia: Unemployment rate from 1999 to 2023 [Graph], World Bank, June 28, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/262524/unemployment-rate-in-saudi-arabia/