GCC: Total populations (nationals+non-nationals) employed in the private sector, by sex and GCC country (2015-2024)

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, except for 2020 (employed population)
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
From 2017 onwards, 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.
Data for 2015 and 2016 were not included, to keep consistency of sources.

UAE: Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE), Open Data section
https://www.mohre.gov.ae/en/open-data/statistical-report
https://bayanat.ae/en/Datasets?subtopic=x5RFL7NcnLlf6cZVROr2UQs92UUJIeNXozZ3_zb-1pk
Total population (nationals+non-nationals) employed in private sector, registered as private sector employee by MoHRE.
See:https://gulfmigration.grc.net/uae-total-labour-force-in-the-private-sector-by-occupation-2011-2022/
Estimates for total employed population for years 2020 and beyond no longer available to the public as of November 2025.

Last accessed: 17 November 2025
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Keywords: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Employment, Female Employment, Labour Market, National & Foreign Labour