Riyadh: According to the General Authority for Statistics of Saudi Arabia, 2,57,170 foreign nationals lost their jobs in the country in the third quarter of 2020.
The number of foreign work force reduced from 10.46 million in the second quarter of 2020 to 10.2 million in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, the number of Saudi nationals in the workforce increased by 82,000 and reached 3.25 million.
The reduction in foreign employees brought down the total number of work force in the country by 1,75,000.
Meanwhile, there was an increase of 23,000 in the total number of work visa granted to foreign nationals in the third quarter of 2020. 72,400 work visas were granted in third quarter while compared to 49,600 in the second.
Saudi Arabia banned travelling in and out of the country in the second quarter as part of preventing COVID-19 pandemic. In the third quarter, there was a dip in the work visas granted to government sector by 56 percent. Only 6,600 visas were allotted in this period.
There was also an increase in 45 percent in the work visas allotted to private sector in the third quarter of 2020.
