Abu Dhabi: Saudi Arabia saw 17,000 foreigners leave the labour market during the first quarter, compared to 137,000 between the third and fourth quarters of last year, a decline of more than 87 per cent, local media reported.
An analysis based on the data of the General Authority for Statistics and the General Organisation for Social Insurance showed a decrease in the number of foreigners working in the private sector to 6.25 million at the end of the first quarter of this year, compared to 6.27 million at the end of 2020, as 18,694 foreigners left their jobs in the private sector during the first three months of this year as the lowest rate of labour market departures in a year.
On the other hand, at the end of the fourth quarter of last year, the number of those who left the labour market reached 137,000, as the number of foreigners participating and working in the private sector at the end of the third quarter reached about 6.41 million subscribers.
At the end of the third quarter of last year, the number of non-Saudi subscribers in insurance decreased by 1.7 per cent, equivalent to the exit of 111,410 subscribers from insurance systems, compared to their number at the end of the same quarter of 2019, on a quarterly basis, as the number of subscribers reached 6.65 million at the end of the second quarter, down 3.6 per cent, indicating the departure of 236,870 subscribers between the second and third quarters.
The number of foreigners on the job in the private sector decreased by about 25,300 subscribers, bringing their number to 6.65 million workers in the second quarter of 2020, compared to the first quarter of the same year, as their number reached 6.73 million at the end of the first quarter of 2020.
Excluding domestic workers, three sectors, namely wholesale and retail trade, construction and manufacturing, accounted for a 39 per cent of expatriate workers, according to the Statistics Authority.
