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Women Driving May Reap More for Saudi Arabia Than Aramco: Chart

Lifting the ban on driving is likely to boost the size of the workforce.

Women Driving May Reap More for Saudi Arabia Than Aramco: Chart
An instructor guides her trainee in driving skills during a training drive at the Saudi Aramco driving school for women at the headquarters of the Saudi Arabian Oil Co. in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. (Photographer: Mohammed Al-Nemer/Bloomberg)
Women Driving May Reap More for Saudi Arabia Than Aramco: Chart

(Bloomberg) -- The participation of women in Saudi Arabia’s labor market is poor, with only 20 percent of females in Saudi Arabia economically active. Lifting the ban on driving is likely to increase the number of women seeking jobs, boosting the size of the workforce and lifting overall incomes and output, according to Bloomberg Economics. That could add about $90 billion to economic output by 2030 -- as much income as plans to sell shares in the national oil company, Saudi Aramco -- and the driving dividend is likely to keep on giving.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ziad Daoud (Economist) in Dubai at zdaoud1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sheldon Reback at sreback@bloomberg.net, Zoe Schneeweiss

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