Saudi employment market welcomes 234,000 domestic workers in a year

A recently conducted survey showed that around 234,000 foreign domestic workers entered the Saudi Arabia’s labour market in a year mainly from the end of the third quarter of 2023 to the same period of 2024.

According to a survey by the Okaz newspaper, the largest percentage of these domestic workers were women who entered the workforce as housekeepers and maids, with roughly 231,000, making 1.24 million female housekeepers and maids in the Kingdom. In these categories, there were around 40,000 male home workers, for a total of 48,0000.

According to the survey, a total of 3.97 million domestic workers, comprising 2.73 million men and 1.25 million women, are employed in a variety of professions, including housekeepers, drivers, cooks, food providers, guards for homes, businesses, and rest homes, home managers, home gardeners, home nurses, tailors, and private instructors.

For every extra domestic worker beyond four for a Saudi citizen or more than two for an expatriate, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development started charging SR9,600 per year two years ago.

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For humanitarian situations that call for more than the allowable limit, such as those involving people with disabilities, serious and chronic illnesses, and other ailments, the ministry has granted an exception.

In the third quarter of 2024, the labour force participation rate for Saudis and non-Saudis was 66.6 percent, up 0.4 percentage points from the second quarter, according to a recent announcement from the General Authority for Statistics.

Additionally, the Saudi employed population ratio rose by 0.2 percentage points to 47.4 percent in the third quarter of 2024, representing an annual increase of 1.1 percentage points, while the Saudi labour force participation rate increased by 0.7 percentage points to 51.5 percent, representing an annual increase of 0.7 percentage points.