RIYADH — More than 480,000 Saudi women have joined the employment market in just four years, specifically from the end of the second quarter of 2020 until the same period in 2024. This figure shows an average of 328 Saudi women entered the labor market on a daily basis for four years in a row. This coincided with a sharp decline in the unemployment rate of Saudi women, falling from 31.4 percent to 12.8 percent. This was revealed in a monitoring carried out by Okaz daily on the basis of the government data collected from the announcements of the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT), the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI), the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD), and the National Labor Observatory. According to the monitoring, the total number of Saudi women working and registered in GOSI crossed 1.09 million by the end of the first half of 2024 while the number of Saudi female employees registered in social insurance by the end of the same period in 2020 was about 652000. The rate of increase of Saudi female employees accounted for about 78.25 percent of the total number of female employees over four years, in a strong increase in the number of Saudi female workers in jobs registered in social insurance in both public and private sectors. The monitoring period witnessed 208 Saudi women submitting their resignations from their jobs to move to a government agency, in addition to the exclusion of 722 women from social insurance due to their death. The average number of Saudi women working at the beginning of working age recorded strong growth, as the average number of Saudi women working between the ages of 15-19 in 2020 was about 11,000 women, while the average number of women working at this age in 2024 rose to 20,000 women, which confirms the integration of female graduates from educational stages into the labor market directly without waiting to search for jobs. The Riyadh region has the highest share of working Saudi women, as their number registered with social insurance exceeds 528000 women, equivalent to 48.38 percent of the total number of working Saudi women in the Kingdom. The Makkah region came in second place, with the number of working women exceeding 222000 women, equivalent to 20.38 percent of working Saudi women registered with social insurance. The Eastern Province came in third place, with the number of working Saudi women reaching about 189000, so the region accounts for 17.29 percent of Saudi women's jobs. Madinah ranked fourth and it was followed by the regions of Asir, Qassim, Jazan, Tabuk, Hail, Najran, Al-Jouf, Northern Borders and Al-Baha. Jobs occupied by Saudi women have recorded strong growth exceeding 100 percent in four Saudi regions over the past four years, with jobs growing by 145 percent in Al-Jouf region with the creation of 3,623 jobs, followed by Makkah region with a 126 percent increase in jobs by employing 19,152 Saudi women, then Asir and Al-Baha regions with a 110 percent increase in jobs in both regions, with the creation of 15,477 jobs for Saudi women in Asir region, and 1,980 jobs in Al-Baha. The rest of the regions witnessed a remarkable growth exceeding 50 percent in women's employment, with the exception of the Northern Borders region, which recorded a slight decline. The monitoring period witnessed the issuance of 14 decisions related to raising the Saudization rate in the private sector by MHRSD, along with raising the minimum wage. The first of these decisions was to amend the localization rates in the Nitaqat Saudization program for maintenance and operation contracting activities, in addition to raising the minimum limit for calculating Saudi wages to SR4000 instead of SR3000. Among the decisions was calculating the employee hired from government and Saudi universities and other government agencies as a full-time employee, with a decision to prohibit the dismissal of Saudi workers in large and medium-sized establishments collectively except in cases of declaring bankruptcy or the final closure of the establishment. The decisions also included the localization of the tourism accommodation sector in three stages, including supervisory leadership positions, and the localization of leadership positions in the Madinah region, and then a similar decision to localize jobs in the Jazan region. The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development issued the localization of women's decoration and sewing service outlets, in cooperation with the Ministry of Municipalities and Housing, in addition to the localization of project management professions in two stages in cooperation with the Ministry of Municipalities and Housing as well. Among the decisions of MHRSD included localizing the purchases sector by 50 percent for establishments employing three or more workers; localizing services of shipping activities and shipping brokers, and sales professions by 15 percent for establishments that hire five or more workers; localization of the education sector operating in private and international schools, and localization of engineering professions, in addition to adopting the updated procedural guide for localization of wholesale and retail commercial outlets.
