JEDDAH: Recruitment visas in the private sector totaled 1.6 million in 2014, according to a Ministry of Labor

report.

At the same time, the recruitment of domestic workers involved 847,927 visas during the year, the report published by a local newspaper said on Friday.

The ministry said, there is a 59 percent increase in the employment of Saudi men and 41 percent of Saudi women last year. The private sector employed 347,275 Saudis.

The ministry said the results showed that the number of unemployed Saudis reached 651,305, with the employment rate among Saudis being at 11.07 percent.

The report also indicated the number of Hafez program beneficiaries increased to 129,645. However, the number of Saudi and expatriate workers who left work reached 530,923, up by 43 percent, the ministry said.

Between 2006 and 2014, the number of total jobs created in the private sector (for both Saudis and non-Saudis) averaged 214,000 per year, the report said quoting Jadwa researchers.

The report looks into data for the period H1 2015 and analyzes the dynamic trends in the Saudi labor market.

The Saudi unemployment rate fell slightly to 11.6 percent during the first half of 2015, despite year-on-year growth in total Saudi employment continuing to fall to 1.1 percent, said the report.