Saudi Unemployment Rate Falls to 7.2% in Q4 2025

Saudi Arabia’s unemployment rate among citizens fell to 7.2% in the fourth quarter of 2025, down from 7.5% in the third quarter, the General Authority for Statistics reported in its Labour Market Statistics Bulletin. The bulletin also recorded the unemployment rate for the total working-age population at 3.5% in the same period. The labour force participation rate for the total population rose to 67.4%, an increase of 0.5 percentage points from the previous quarter and 1.0 percentage points from the previous year.

The General Authority for Statistics stated that unemployment among Saudi women declined year on year to 10.3%, a decrease of 1.6 percentage points compared to the fourth quarter of 2024. The labour force participation rate among Saudi men reached 64.7%, up 0.4 percentage points from the third quarter of 2025. Over the past five years, the employment rate of Saudi women increased by 4.2 percentage points to 31%.

Among Saudis overall, the employment-to-population ratio reached 45.9%, up 0.6 percentage points from the third quarter of 2025 and down 1.6 percentage points year on year. For the total working-age population of citizens and residents, the unemployment rate stood at 3.5% in the fourth quarter of 2025, up 0.1 percentage points from the previous quarter and unchanged compared to the fourth quarter of 2024. The employment-to-population ratio for the total working-age group reached 65%, an increase of 0.4 percentage points from the third quarter of 2025 and 1.0 percentage points from the fourth quarter of 2024.