DOHA: Qatar has established itself as the GCC leader in labour market efficiency, posting the region’s lowest unemployment rate of just 0.1% in Q2 2024, according to the GCC Statistical Center (GCC-STAT).
The report highlighted that expatriates make up 84.5% of Qatar’s workforce, one of the highest proportions in the bloc. Despite this reliance on foreign labour, unemployment among Qataris remains minimal, with rates at 0.1% for men and 0.4% for women, far below the GCC averages of 1.6% for men and 10.8% for women.
Among GCC states, Oman (3.6%) and Saudi Arabia (3.5%) reported the highest unemployment levels, particularly among women. By contrast, Qatar’s figures reflect near-full employment.
In terms of workforce composition, Qatari men represent 58.9% of the citizen labour force, while women account for 41.1%, the second-highest female participation rate in the GCC after Saudi Arabia. Qatar also has one of the lowest male-to-female ratios among national workers, at 143 men for every 100 women.
The report noted Qatar hosted 2.2 million expatriate workers in Q2 2024, about 8.9% of the total foreign labour force in the GCC, ranking it fourth after Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman.
Despite its dependence on expatriate labour, Qatar’s national employment remained stable with a slight 0.4% quarterly increase. GCC-STAT credited the country’s strong job creation policies, female workforce empowerment, and overall labour market efficiency as key drivers of economic resilience.
Click here for more on Finance and Investing
