Riyadh – Mubasher: The number of working Saudi women has increased by 23.1% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2017, according to official data released by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT).
The number women currently working as part of the Saudi labour force rose to 1.023 million by the end of Q2-17 from 830,600 in the year-ago period.
Meanwhile, the labour force registered a collective number of 3.052 million Saudi employees in Q2-17, of which 66.5% or 2.030 million are males.
These figures do not include workers in the security and military sectors, or workers unregistered at the General Organisation for Social Insurance (GOSI) and the Ministry of Civil Service (MCS), the GASTAT said.
The Saudi government is adamant on increasing women’s contribution to the labour force. Accordingly, King Salman bin AbdulAziz recently issued a decree allowing women to drive cars in Saudi Arabia.
