First wartime labor data: Women’s employment stalls as participation slips

The first wartime read on unemployment: Labor market participation slipped across every group q-o-q in Saudi Arabia, with women taking the clearest hit. Unemployment among Saudi citizens rose slightly to 6.5% in 2Q 2026, from 6.4% in 1Q, and the overall rate, including expats, fell to 3%, according to Gastat’s labor force survey (pdf). While neither headline number moved much, the underlying numbers show labor force participation fell for women, men, young women, and young men alike.

Even if the latest quarter looks softer, unemployment across the Kingdom is meaningfully lower than it was a year ago. On a y-o-y basis, citizen unemployment is down 0.3 percentage points and women’s unemployment is down 1.7 points.

Women’s unemployment may be improving, but that’s mostly down to fewer women being counted as looking for employment. Women’s participation fell 0.8 points y-o-y to 33.7%, leaving their employment-to-population ratio essentially flat y-o-y, meaning the same share of Saudi women is working as last year. Men went the other way, with unemployment up 0.5 points y-o-y to 4.8% on flat participation of 63.9%, which puts their employment rate down around 0.4 points.

The quarter in brief: Women’s unemployment rose 0.6 points q-o-q to 9.6%, youth unemployment fell 0.9 points to 19.5% for women aged 15-24, and unemployment fell 0.8 points to 13.0% for young men. Labor participation reached 16.2% for young women and 31.2% for young men.

It isn’t for want of trying: Some 96.7% of unemployed Saudis said they would take a private sector job, and 76.8% are applying to employers directly, ahead of Jadarat at 53.5% and professional networks at 48.9%. Among unemployed women, 62.2% would accept an hour’s commute against 46.7% of men, though only 70.0% would work eight-hour days or longer, versus 82.9% of men.