Saudi Arabia records 18.1M employees by Q1 2025-end

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The number of people employed in Saudi Arabia reached 18.1 million by the end of the first quarter of 2025, showed labor market statistics of the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT).

According to the authority, the number of expatriates employed reached 14 million, representing 77% of the total workers in the Kingdom. Meanwhile, the number of Saudi workers stood at 4.1 million, representing 23% of the total.

As for the educational level, the number of Saudi employees holding the bachelor’s degree or its equivalent during the quarter accounted for 38% of the total.

Meanwhile, most of expatriates held middle-level education, representing 27% of total employees.

The data also showed that 45% of the total Saudi employees were concentrated in Riyadh region, with a bout 1.83 million, followed by the Eastern Province (18%), then Makkah (17%).

Expatriate employees, except for household workers, were concentrated in Riyadh, reaching nearly 4.72 million.

As for the distribution of Saudi employees by age band, the survey data showed that the biggest percentage was aged between 30-34 years old, representing 17% of the total Saudi employees, or 693,200 workers.

The smallest percentage among Saudi employees was aged above 65 years old, with about 16,000 employees.

Meanwhile, expatriates in Saudi Arabia were mostly aged betwen 35-39 years old, reaching nearly 1.82 million workers, or 13% of the total foreign workers in the Kingdom.

According to the data, the average monthy wage for Saudi employees and expatriates reached SAR 11,034 and SAR 3,687, respectively.