Bahrain			Kuwait			Oman			Qatar			Arabie Saoudite		UAE
	Total pop. employed in private sector	Non-nationals employed in private sector	% non-nationals in private sector	Total pop. employed in private sector	Non-nationals employed in private sector	% non-nationals in private sector	Total pop. employed in private sector	Non-nationals employed in private sector	% non-nationals in private sector	Total labour force in private sector	Non-nationals  in private sector	% non-nationals in private sector	Total pop. employed in private sector	Non-nationals employed in private sector	% non-nationals in private sector	Total pop. employed in private sector
2015	546,572	445,374	81.5	1,480,249	1,410,010	95.3	1,583,462	1,373,842	86.8	1,511,627	1,499,956	99.2	10,140,936	8,416,681	83.0	4,734,285
2016	611,229	509,062	83.3	1,580,347	1,509,087	95.5	1,728,019	1,504,936	87.1	1,602,630	1,592,577	99.4	10,168,137	8,492,965	83.5	4,851,582
2017	599,714	495,912	82.7	1,638,020	1,566,782	95.7	1,741,496	1,502,808	86.3	1,606,550	1,596,340	99.4	9,701,960	7,928,287	81.7	5,012,634
2018	608,220	503,006	82.7	1,698,528	1,625,589	95.7	1,687,285	1,435,153	85.1	1,652,818	1,642,498	99.4	8,599,487	6,895,514	80.2	4,980,272
2019	605,824	498,999	82.4	1,714,063	1,640,830	95.7	1,626,288	1,363,955	83.9	1,661,807	1,651,951	99.4	8,138,590	6,437,886	79.1	5,094,407
2020	564,641	460,022	81.5	1,567,114	1,494,133	95.3	1,468,057	1,115,322	76.0	1,710,948	1,702,251	99.5	8,026,901	6,280,145	78.2	4,799,196
2021	557,863	448,485	80.4	1,434,824	1,362,602	95.0	1,482,180	1,107,574	74.7	1,593,673	1,584,118	99.4	8,084,253	6,174,178	76.4	4,903,612
2022	609,547	496,318	81.4	1,572,384	1,500,551	95.4	1,742,955	1,359,776	78.0	1,675,213	1,665,285	99.4	9,422,233	7,227,688	76.7	5,477,366
2023	NA	NA	NA	1,656,955	1,584,125	95.6	1,853,973	1,454,170	78.4	1,721,695	1,710,971	99.4	10,292,270	7,991,679	77.6	NA
2024	NA	NA	NA	1,739,735	1,665,994	95.8	1,837,840	1,433,124	78.0	NA	NA	NA	11,837,519	9,429,359	79.7	NA

Sources: national institutes of statistics and relevant national institutions

1- Definitions and remarks:
Non-nationals are:

1- persons bearing nationality of a foreign State other than the GCC State of residence, or bearing
no proof of nationality from any given state
(stateless persons and holders of refugee status and travel document in a third country);
2- Holders of residence permit residing in the given GCC country at date of census, as per definition
of residence used in each of the countries.

Unless stated otherwise (if specific categories of workers are excluded from statistics, for instance),
employment refers to: all persons of working age (15 and above), who during a reference period
worked to produce goods or provide services for pay (cash or kind) or worked for profit from their
own (or partially owned) business or worked without pay in the family business or with other
individuals. It also includes those who have a temporary absence from a job during the reference
period due to vacation or illness or any other reason.

Figures refer to workers employed in the private sector.
Reference period: end of year
Q4 of quarterly data published for Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia
Annual data published for Oman, Qatar, UAE.

Bahrain: Labour Market Regulation Authority (LMRA). Bahrain Labour Market Indicators (BLMI), Q4 2022,
https://blmi.lmra.gov.bh/2022/12/mi_dashboard.xml
Employment data include all civilian employed persons in the private and public sectors (insured, uninsured and self-employed) and domestic workers.
Since Q1 2010, LMRA has been using data from LMRA Expat management System (EMS) to produce the total number of foreign worker employment in public and private sectors.
No data on employment after Q2 2023 in LMRA statistics.

Kuwait: Central Statistical Bureau. Integrated Database – LMIS, Q4 data, 2015 to 2024.
https://lmis.csb.gov.kw/
Data are taken from administrative records. The Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) maintains statistics on workers in the private sector.

Oman: National Center for Statistics and Information (NCSI). Statistical Yearbook 2025, Chapter “Employment”
https://www.ncsi.gov.om/Elibrary/LibraryContentDoc/bar_bar_Statistical%20Year%20Book%202024%20Issue%2052_a0f3084d-42a7-4183-83c0-3c9e603f89b5.pdf
https://www.ncsi.gov.om/Pages/Publications.aspx
“Private sector” includes Private, Communal and Other Sectors.
2020 and after: employment data is taken from National Registration system (includes insured and uninsured employees).

Qatar: National Planning Council (NPC), formerly Planning and Statistics Authority. Annual Bulletins of Labour Force Sample Surveys 2015 to 2023
https://www.npc.qa/en/statistics/pages/subjectdetails.aspx
Population of reference: labour force.
Labour Force Survey data are collected on a monthly basis, and based on field surveys.
Annual Bulletin of Labour Force Survey 2024 unavailable as of 17 November 2025.

Saudi Arabia: General Authority for Statistics (GAStat). Labour Market Statistics (2017-20222) and Register-based Labour Market Statistics (2023-2024), Q4 data.
2023-2025: available at:
https://www.stats.gov.sa/en/statistics-tabs/-/categories/417515?tab=436312&category=417515
Before 2023: available in the “archived data”:
https://www.stats.gov.sa/en/statistics?index=1317550
“social statistics”, and “labour force”
https://www.stats.gov.sa/en/statistics-tabs?tab=436312&category=1333429
2015-2016: Saudi Arabia Central Bank (SAMA). Yearly statistics
https://www.sama.gov.sa/en-US/EconomicReports/Pages/report.aspx?cid=127
The data is taken from the administrative records of subscribers to the General Organization of Social Insurance (GOSI).
Population of reference: workers employed in the private sector, registered with the GOSI.

UAE: Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE), Labour Market Information System.
https://www.mohre.gov.ae/en/open-data/statistical-report
Total population (nationals+non-nationals) employed in private sector, registered as private sector employee by MoHRE.
Figures disaggregated by nationality are not available.
No numerical data available since 2021 (percent distributions only).

Last accessed: 17 November 2025
GLMM and GRC cannot guarantee that the link to access the source will not change;
that the information will not be removed from the website it was obtained from;
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Keywords: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Employment, Female Employment, Labour Market, National & Foreign Labour

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