Saudi Unemployment Falls to 6.4% in First Quarter of 2026

Saudi Arabia's unemployment rate fell to 6.4% in the first quarter of 2026, according to the latest Labour Force Survey published by the General Authority for Statistics.

The figure represents a decline of 0.8 percentage points compared with the fourth quarter of 2025. Women's unemployment recorded the largest quarterly improvement, falling 1.3 percentage points to 9%, while unemployment among Saudi men declined to 4.9%, down 0.7 percentage points.

Among Saudi men, the labour force participation rate reached 64.2%, with the employment-to-population ratio standing at 61%. Across the Kingdom, including both Saudi and non-Saudi residents, overall unemployment fell to 3.1%, down 0.4 percentage points from the previous quarter, while the overall labour force participation rate reached 67.2%. For Saudis overall, the labour force participation rate stood at 49%, while the employment-to-population ratio reached 45.8%.

The report also showed continued improvement among working-age Saudis. Unemployment among Saudis aged 25 to 54 declined to 5.1%, with a labour force participation rate of 66.7% and an employment-to-population ratio of 63.3%. Youth unemployment also fell during the quarter.

Among Saudi women aged 15 to 24, unemployment declined by 2 percentage points to 20.4%, while the rate among Saudi men in the same age group dropped 1.2 percentage points to 13.8%. The survey found that unemployed Saudis used an average of three active job-search methods.

Direct applications to employers were the most common approach, followed by the Unified National Employment Platform (Jadarat) and professional social media platforms.

According to the survey, 95.8% of unemployed Saudis said they would accept a private-sector job.

It also found that 60.4% of unemployed women and 45.3% of unemployed men were willing to commute for up to one hour, while 68.2% of women and 82.8% of men said they would accept working days of eight hours or more.