Saudi Arabia's unemployment rate among citizens fell to a record low of 7.1% in the second quarter of 2024, down from 7.6% in the previous quarter, official data showed on September 30, as the kingdom pushes ahead with its economic diversification plans.

Saudi authorities have long hoped to activate many passive citizens into the active economy and have sought to push more people into work as part of the Vision 2030 plan. 

The General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) said in its quarterly labour force survey that the overall unemployment rate among the working-age population declined to 3.3% in Q2, compared with 3.5% in Q1 2024.

This marks the lowest unemployment rate for Saudi nationals since the government published such data in 1999, reflecting the ongoing efforts to create jobs for citizens in the private sector.

The kingdom has been implementing sweeping economic and social reforms to reduce its dependence on oil and create jobs for its young population, a key pillar of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's (MbS) Vision 2030 strategy.

However, the employment-to-population ratio slightly decreased to 50.8% in Q2, while Saudi women's employment dropped to 35.4% in the same period, potentially signalling challenges in sustaining the pace of job creation.

The data shows a significant recovery from the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic when Saudi unemployment hit 15.4% in Q2 2020. Since then, the rate has steadily declined as the economy rebounded from the impact of the pandemic and lower oil prices.

The gap between overall and Saudi-specific unemployment has also narrowed over time, indicating progress in the government's Saudisation efforts to employ more nationals in the private sector.

Despite the positive trends, some analysts caution that sustaining this progress may become more challenging as the easiest gains have been made.