Saudi Arabia: more than 350.000 new job opportunities

In line with the various changes in the Kingdom, the labor market is completely reshaping, and this concerns all sectors and populations. While 12,9% of the Saudi workforce is currently unemployed, the GaStats’ announcement of the creation of 350,000 new jobs offers great prospects !

A dynamism confirmed for many sectors

The announcement confirms changes currently going on in the Kingdom. Thus, nearly 106,000 jobs will be created in the trade, tourism, catering and entertainment branches, including 67.000 opportunities for foreign workers.

But not only the tertiary sectors hires ! There are no less than 66.000 vacancies in the building sector, 56.000 for industry and 7.500 for agriculture.

More and more foreign workers

Saudi Arabia attracts numerous foreign workers. They are currently over 11 million working in the kingdom and on whom large parts of the economy is leaning. To reduce this dependency and further support the employment of nationals, the government has introduced fees and restrictions on foreign labor employment.

In addition, the GaStats notices a significant gap between the wages of the Saudis, which amounts on average to 2.238 dollars, and approximately 714 dollars for the expatriates. Surprisingly, this gap is significantly slender as regards to women, with an average salary 1.317 dollars for Saudi women and 1.265 dollars for non-Saudi women.

Supporting employment

This reshaping of the labor market is largely supported by the government, which is doing everything possible to achieve its 2030 goals, including a reduction of the unemployment rate to 7%. This rate is currently 12.9% regarding the whole labor force. However, there are still major challenges to overcome, and there are all reasons to believes that these jobs will soon be held, especially given the fact that 83,9% of women are currently seeking work, as well as young graduates, who represent half of the population looking for work.