Saudis in the Private Sector: Women Leading the Way

In Q3 2018, 30% of Saudi employment was in the private sector, and by Q1 2022 this had increased to 46%. A major driver of this increase was the comparative outperformance of Saudi women, of whom over 60% now work in the private sector, compared with 40% of Saudi men.

At the beginning of the series in Q3 2018, over 75% of employed Saudi women worked in the public sector. However, in the same period Saudi female labor force participation increased from under 20% to 34% – fulfilling a major policy objective of Saudi Vision 2030.

Cian Mulligan

Research Fellow Cian has been a member of the Energy Macro- and Microeconomics team since March 2018. Focusing on analyzing the employment…

Cian has been a member of the Energy Macro- and Microeconomics team since March 2018. Focusing on analyzing the employment benefits of the energy transition, he has authored a series of studies that shed light on issues relevant to the modern Saudi labor market in light of Saudi Vision 2030. His recent research interests include analysis of green jobs in Saudi Arabia, Saudi female labor force participation, and optimizing local content policy design. He has presented research at multiple international conferences and worked and studied in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, and Taiwan, as well as his native country of Ireland.

Expertise