Economics
Saudi Arabia Delays Release of Sensitive Jobless Data Four Times
- Kingdom has yet to release third quarter labor market report
- Rise in jobless rate a major challenge to crown prince’s plan
This article is for subscribers only.
Saudi Arabia has delayed the release of closely watched data on citizen unemployment four times amid political sensitivity over a jobless rate that rose to the highest level on record last year.
The kingdom’s labor market report for the third quarter of 2020 was meant to be published in late December, but was rescheduled several times before officials simply removed the release date from the website of the Saudi statistics authority, saying they needed more time “due to the importance of the target period.”