WOMEN POPULATION

SAUDI WOMEN UNLEASH MASSIVE ECONOMIC POTENTIAL

The latest Women's Labor Force Survey underscores the substantial  progress made in recent years in raising female participation in the job  market. Unemployment rate among Saudi women has declined,  especially in the fourth quarter of 2022, reaching 15.4%, a marked improvement compared to 2021, 2020, and 2019, according to the  General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT).

As women’s unemployment rate decreased, their economic involvement surged in various sectors. Consequently, the ratio of employed  women to the total population has risen to 30.4% in the fourth quarter  of 2022, up from 27.6% in the same period of 2021. Women's participation in the labour market stood at 36% in Q4 of last year, a slight  increase from 35.6% in the fourth quarter of 2021.

The report also noted the issuance of freelance certificates to women in  2021, with a total of 961,189 issued, a significant improvement to the  105,518 certificates granted in 2020, and a mere 7,997 in 2019.

Overall, Saudi women aged 15 to 19 years are the biggest segment of the  Saudi women population, totalling 916,439 individuals, closely followed  by 850,780 women falling within the 20- to 24-year-old age bracket.

Saudi women are also becoming active in the stock market, with the  number of female investors in 2021 reaching 1,516,995, surpassing the  figures for 2019 and 2020.

The effort to boost Saudi women’s participation is part of a bigger focus  on human capital development and the recently launched Human  Capital Development Program, and the Labor Demand Foresight Unit.

The government has made strides in promoting gender equality, which  resulted in a doubling of the Saudi female labour force participation  since 2017, facilitated by the removal of formal restrictions in the legal  code, employer incentive schemes, childcare assistance, training, and  scholarships.

“The much faster-than-anticipated progress should be sustained, with a  new target being established while considering additional initiatives and  ensuring alignment of female human capital with sectoral and diversification initiatives,” according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Potential growth gains from increasing female participation to the OECD  or G20 average are estimated at 1.6% per annum.

 

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

Meanwhile, the launch of the Women Empowerment initiative will  support the momentum, notably through the authorities’ gender  budgeting programme as part of the annual budget process

Indeed, the law prescribes reforms dedicated to the promotion of  women’s engagement in economic development. The law sets an equal  age for both genders, preventing gender discrimination in terms of  wages, occupation, work field and hours, and enables women to  incorporate and practice commercial business without obtaining prior  consent of a male guardian.

This includes equality in workplaces and wages, equality in education  and training, and equality in grants and subsidies.

More reforms are expected to be rolled out to encourage women entrepreneurship and address some disparity in funding and opportunities provided to female business owners.

“While the rate of established business ownership among women in  Saudi Arabia has increased significantly, reaching 3.7% of the female  population in Saudi Arabia, compared to just 1.6% in 2016, they still face fundraising challenges,” according to a report by Atlantic Council. “A  collective eort is needed to encourage more investments into  female-founded companies, empowering them to thrive and contribute  to the nation’s economic growth.”

 

LABOUR INDICATORS

The overall unemployment rate for both Saudis and non-Saudis was  5.1% in Q1/2023, a slight increase from last quarter by 0.3 percentage points (pp) and decreased from a year ago by 0.9 pp. The unemployment  rate of Saudis reached 8.5% in Q1/2023, increasing by 0.5 pp compared  to Q4/2022, latest data from GASTAT shows.

“Among Saudi females, in Q1/2023 participation rate remains unchanged from last quarter’s 36.0%, and increased 2.4% compared to  one year ago, the unemployment rate increased to 16.1%, up 0.7 pp  from the last quarter, while the employment-to-population ratio  decreased by 0.2 pp reaching 30.2%,” GASTAT noted in its first quarter report on labour market.

Among Saudi males, in Q1/2023 the unemployment rate increased to  4.6%, up 0.4 pp from the previous quarter, and down 0.5 pp compared  to a year ago. The labour force participation rate and the employment-to-population ratio of Saudi males decreased respectively by 0.2  pp and 0.5 pp to 68.3% and 65.2%.