Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — The Saudi government spent SR159.5 billion to pay the salaries of its 1.24 million civilian employees in 2017, according to a report published by the business daily Al-Eqtisadiah.

This is in addition to SR3.1 billion paid in annual salaries to expatriates working for the government, the report said.

The report was based on the figures for the third quarter of 2017 published in a labor market bulletin.

The figures do not include employees in the military and security sectors and those who are not registered with the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI).

The average salary of a Saudi government employee is SR10,894, which is more by SR731, or 7.3 percent, than the salary of expatriate employees who receive an average monthly salary of SR10,053.

The monthly salaries of the male employees, whether Saudis or expatriates, are more by about 7 percent that the salaries of their female counterparts.

Saudi government employees receive SR12.7 billion in salaries every month. This is in addition to SR640 million paid to expatriates working in the government sector.

The salaries paid to the Saudi government employees represent about 95.2 percent of the total government expenditure on wages to civil servants while those paid to the expatriate employees represent about 4.8 percent.

There are 1.17 million Saudi civil government employees representing 94.9 percent against 63,600 expatriates representing 5.1 percent.

There are 702,200 Saudi male employees working for the government receiving an average monthly salary of SR10,894.

There are 471,200 Saudi women working for the government and they receive an average monthly salary of SR10,313.

There are 33,300 male expatriates working for the government with an average monthly salary of SR10,646. The expatriate women employees in the public sector number 31,300 and they receive an average monthly salary of SR8,351.