十年进步：沙特阿拉伯劳动力市场转型内幕

INSIDE SAUDI ARABIA’SLABOR MARKETTRANSFORMATION Nayib RiveraCarole ChartouniEkaterina PankratovaJohannes KoettlTjaša Bartolj A Decadeof Progress INSIDE SAUDI ARABIA’SLABOR MARKET TRANSFORMATION | Nayib Rivera | Carole Chartouni | Ekaterina Pankratova | Johannes Koettl || Tjaša Bartolj | Miha Dominko | Simon Bilo | Ahmed Alzahrani | Ahmed Humedi | Abstract This report offers fresh insights into Saudi Arabia’s labor market transfor-mation over the past decade, highlighting some of the accomplishments inreshaping employment outcomes achieved after implementation of Vision2030 and the National Labor Market Strategy. Leveraging a rich datasetcomparing 2025 with a 2015 pre–Vision 2030 baseline, it offers details aboutsome of the main policy reforms that the Ministry of Human Resources andSocial Development has led and how these reforms have helped modernize Disclaimer © [2026] The World Bank1818 H Street NW, Washington DC 20433 Some rights reserved. This work was prepared by The World Bank at the request of the Ministryof Human Resources and Social Development in Saudi Arabia. The findings,interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in thiswork and does not assume responsibility for any errors, omissions, or discrep-ancies in the information, or liability with respect to the use of or failure to usethe information, methods, processes, or conclusions set forth. The boundaries,colors, denominations, links/footnotes and other information shown in this Nothing herein shall constitute or be construed or considered to be a limita-tion upon or waiver of the privileges and immunities of The World Bank, all Rights andpermissions The material in this work is subject to copyright. Because The World Bankencourages dissemination of its knowledge, this work may be reproduced, Attribution—Please cite the work as follows:Rivera, Nayib; Chartouni, Carole; Pankratova, Ekaterina; Koettl, Johannes;Bartolj, Tjaša; Dominko, Miha; Bilo, Simon; Alzahrani, Ahmed; andHumedi,Ahmed. 2026. A Decade of Progress: Inside Saudi Arabia’s Labor Market All queries on rights and licenses, including subsidiary rights, should be World Bank Publications, The World Bank, 1818 H Street NW,Washington,DC 20433, USA; fax: 202-522-2625; e-mail:pubrights@worldbank.org. Cover photo: © Pexels / arthousestudioPhoto credit: © Ami Vitale / Panos Pictures. Used with the permission of Contents Table of figures Figure 1.Percentage of SaudiNationals Employed According to Sex, Age, and Education/ 24Figure 2.Labor Force Participation Rates & Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET)/ 25Figure 3.Job Transitions Out of Inactivity for Youth and Women/ 26Figure 4.Share of Respondents Reporting That They Would Rather Be at Home Than Go to Work According toSex and Age/ 26Figure 5.Acceptance of Saudi Women Working in Mixed-Gender Workplaces/ 27Figure 6.Sectoral Distribution of Employment of Saudi Nationals According to Sector/ 32Figure 7.Share of Saudi Workers Transitioning Out of Inactivity to Employment According to Sector/ 33Figure 8.Firms’ Perceptions of the Impact of Localization Policies/ 34Figure 9.Sector of Work Sought by Unemployed Saudis According to Sex/ 35Figure 10.Selected Regression Coefficients for Real Wages and Reservation Wages, Saudi Nationals/ 36Figure 11.EmploymentDistribution According to Firm Size, Nationality, and Sex/ 37Figure 12.Average Occupational Structure According to Firm Size/ 38Figure 13.Distribution of Employment According to Education Level and Public versus Private Sector/ 40Figure 14.Qualification Mismatch in Private Sector/ 41 Acknowledgments This report is the product of collaborationbetweenSaudi Arabia’s Ministry of HumanResources andSocial Development (MHRSD, Labor) and theWorld Bank under the Technical CooperationProgram with the Saudi Government. The au-thors are Nayib Rivera (Economist, World Bank),Carole Chartouni (Senior Economist, World Bank)Ekaterina Pankratova (Senior Program Coordi-nator, Social Protection, World Bank), Johannes The report benefited from the technical insights andstrategic guidance of JohannesKoettl–Brodmann(Senior Economist and Task Team Leader for GulfCooperation Council Social Protection and LaborEngagement),CristobalRidao–Cano(PracticeMana-ger, Social Protection andLabor, Middle East and The World Bank task team expresses its sincere ap-preciation for those involved in the World Bank’slong-standing partnership with MHRSD Labor,which provided guidance and valuable insightsand operational support during implementationof national-level data collection on labor marketsand skills surveys that laid the foundation for thisreport: H.E. Abdullah Abuthnain (Vice Ministerof Human Resources and Social Development forLabor), Dr. AhmedAlzahrani (Deputy Ministerfor Skills and Training, MHRSD), AhmedHumedi(Advisor of the Deputy Minister for Skills and The World Bank team is thankful for the con