Saudi Arabia minimum wage
Saudi Arabia has no universal statutory minimum wage covering all workers. This figure is the SAR 4,000/month minimum that applies to SAUDI NATIONALS for the purpose of the Saudization (Nitaqat) programme — a Saudi employee must be paid at least this to be counted as one full worker toward an employer's Saudization quota. Set by ministerial decision of the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD).
| Current value | 4000 SAR/month (applies to Saudi nationals for Saudization/Nitaqat counting; NOT a universal statutory floor — see notes) |
|---|---|
| In force from | 2021-04-18 |
| Official source | Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD) ministerial decision raising the minimum wage for Saudis registered in the Nitaqat programme from SAR 3,000 to SAR 4,000 (issued November 2020, legal effect 18 April 2021), Saudi Press Agency announcement |
| Last verified | 2026-07-24 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
NUANCED / NOT A UNIVERSAL FLOOR. Saudi Arabia does NOT have a single statutory minimum wage that binds all employment contracts. Two things are commonly (and wrongly) conflated: (1) EXPATRIATE / PRIVATE-SECTOR WORKERS GENERALLY — there is no statutory minimum wage; pay is contractual, governed by the Labor Law but with no legislated floor. (2) SAUDI NATIONALS under the Saudization (Nitaqat) framework — the MHRSD sets SAR 4,000/month as the threshold for a Saudi employee to count as ONE full worker in an employer's Saudization percentage. A Saudi paid SAR 3,000-3,999 counts as only half a worker; below SAR 3,000 the employee is not counted at all. This is therefore a QUOTA-COUNTING RULE and a de facto floor for Saudi hires (employers who want Saudization credit must pay at least SAR 4,000), not a criminal-law wage floor applying to everyone. The SAR 4,000 level was set by ministerial decision issued in November 2020, taking legal effect on 18 April 2021 (raising the previous SAR 3,000 that had applied since the earlier Nitaqat rules). The figure is served here per the brief's instruction to carry the national-worker figure WITH the caveat; an engine consuming this must not present SAR 4,000 as a wage guaranteed to expatriate workers. As of the confirmation date SAR 4,000 remains current. Also relevant but not served: a separate public-sector minimum for Saudis (historically ~SAR 3,000-4,000 depending on grade) and GOSI social-insurance wage rules.
Get it programmatically
curl https://mearef.dev/v1/sa/minimum-wage
# $0.001 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://mearef.dev/v1/sa/minimum-wage/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://mearef.dev/provenance/sa/minimum-wageOther Saudi Arabia series: policy interest rate · VAT rate · public holidays · inflation rate (CPI) · corporate tax rate · income tax rates