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A total of 137,000 expatriates left their jobs between the third and fourth quarters of 2020, compared to 18,000 in first three months of 2021
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Wholesale and retail trade, construction and manufacturing are the three sectors that accounted for 39 percent of the foreign workforce
Dubai: A significantly fewer number of expatriates left the Saudi job market during the first three months of 2021 compared to those who left in the last two quarters of 2020.
In the first quarter of 2021, more than 18,000 foreigners left the labor compared to 137,000 who left their jobs between the third and fourth quarters of last year, a drop of more than 87 percent, media reports said citing data from the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) and the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI).
The highest (237,000) number of foreigners left their jobs between the second and third quarters of 2020. The period between the first and second quarters of 2020 saw the lowest (80,000) flight of expatriates from Saudi job market.
The government data also showed that 290,000 new foreigners entered the market by end of the first quarter of 2020.
The foreign workforce was 6.25 million strong in the first quarter of 2021. Wholesale and retail trade, construction and manufacturing are the three sectors that accounted for 39 percent of the foreign workforce.
