Work permits issued by occupation category (Saudi Arabia, 2005-2011)

Occupation group of labour permit’ holder       year      
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Managers and Business Managers 2,734 2,696 3,074 2,805 2,195 2,571 2,917
Specialists in Scientific, Technical and Humanities Fields 126,026 141,212 165,374 202,815 193,168 220,620 246,072
Technicians in Scientific, Technical and Humanities Fields 128,777 149,232 181,873 215,444 210,863 227,939 274,137
Clerical Workers 3,015 2,839 3,035 3,516 2,782 2,787 2,824
Sales Persons 87,332 86,441 84,097 89,070 64,240 60,404 76,451
Service Persons 976,412 1,052,607 1,107,318 1,227,295 1,097,139 1,097,820 1,321,468
Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fishing 173,927 117,042 182,101 320,285 89,161 85,516 101,872
Industrial, Chemical and Food Industries  98,731 107,942 122,535 136,856 128,052 121,719 146,705
Engineering Support 762,347 881,072 1,113,632 1,400,231 1,435,208 1,526,254 1,915,647
TOTAL 2,359,301 2,541,083 2,963,039 3,598,317 3,222,808 3,345,630 4,088,093

Source: Ministry of Labour

 

1. Definitions

 

Classification used for occupations is adapted from ISCO 1988.

 

2. Data collection methodology

 

The issuance of the residency and work permits begins with filing an application with the Ministry of Labor.

After its approval, the Ministry of Labor forwards the application to the Ministry of Interior for the issuance of the residency permit.

 

3. Institution which provides data

 

Ministry of Labour

 

4. Data availability

 

Published in Ministry of Labour’s Statistical Yearbooks

MoL Yearbooks are available online at http://portal.mol.gov.sa/ar/Statistics/Pages/default.aspx (issues 2004-2012)

In 2012′ Yearbook, work permits’ data are not presented in detailed table format.

Date of access: December 2013.