The number of Saudi female workers in the national trade sector increased by 2 percent during the second quarter of 2018. The number of Saudi Arabia’s trade sector labor force totaled at 1,685,000 whereby 1,250,000 were foreign employees.
An increase in Saudi local trade labor is attributed to localization efforts led by the Saudi state. The Kingdom’s Labor and Social Development Ministry is expected to soon announce further qualitative initiatives meant to boost localization efforts for national sectors.
A survey published by the Saudi General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) on internal trade activity for Q2, 2018 showed that the number of Saudi female workers of the internal trade activity establishments increased by 2 percent, compared to the previous quarter.
The workers’ number of internal trade sector in Saudi Arabia reached about 1.6 million workers by the end of the second quarter of 2018.
However, the number of Saudi workers of the same sector was approximately 434,000 workers.
According to the survey, employees of the retail trade made up 1,054,460, including 771,650 non-Saudi workers. However, the number of Saudi employees in this activity was 282,810.
Results of the survey also indicated that the total operating revenues(sales) of the internal trade sector for Q2 2018 amounted to around SAR 148,987,000. Nonetheless, the total operating expenses of the sector during the same period recorded about 89,312,000.
Based on the data of the survey, the operating surplus of the wholesale trade was the highest among all the activities of the internal trade, where its number was about 18,928,000.
GASTAT has installed programs and surveys that aim to create a statistical database in all fields, including data and statistics of the internal trade with a view to providing support in developing a study of the economic status of the commercial establishments. This will provide updated statistical data for helping decision-makers to reduce unemployment and increase employment in the private sector in the internal trade activity, as well as knowing the volume of the internal trade (retail and wholesale).
