3.8%
Unemployment rate
Sur sits 5 of 11 here, and on this table the lower number is the better one.
Back to Ash Sharqiyah South
Sur · Topic file
Can Sur turn projects into real jobs and real firms?
If the strategy does not eventually show up in jobs, firms and a thicker base of local businesses, it is not really a strategy yet — it is still a slide. For Sur, the honest read comes down to unemployment rate and establishments.
25,134
Establishments
That puts Sur at 6 of 11 on the official table.
72,184
Workers in establishments
That puts Sur at 6 of 11 on the official table.
The numbers
Where Sur stands today, chart by chart
Unemployment rate
Total unemployment rate by governorate in 2025.
NCSI Statistical Year Book 2026, Table 25-4.
Establishments
Number of establishments by governorate in 2025.
NCSI Statistical Year Book 2026, Table 12-9.
Workers in establishments
Workers attached to governorate establishments in 2025.
NCSI Statistical Year Book 2026, Table 12-9.
The trend over time
How Sur got here
Unemployment rate
How unemployment has moved at the governorate level. The machine-readable open data runs through 2021; the 2024 and 2025 points are pulled from the printed yearbooks.
2020–2021 from the NCSI open-data unemployment layer (by governorate). 2024 and 2025 from Table 25-4 of the Statistical Year Books 2025 and 2026.
Establishments
How many businesses are actually registered in the governorate. A simple way to see whether the local business base is thickening or thinning.
2023 and 2024: Table 12-9, Statistical Year Book 2025 (Issue 53). 2025: Table 12-9, Statistical Year Book 2026 (Issue 54).
Reading the charts
What the latest tables are really saying
- Sur is showing 3.8% on unemployment rate. Sur sits 5 of 11 here, and on this table the lower number is the better one.
- Sur is showing 25,134 on establishments. That puts Sur at 6 of 11 on the official table.
- Sur is showing 72,184 on workers in establishments. That puts Sur at 6 of 11 on the official table.
- The official MOHUP role is unambiguous: Ash Sharqiyah South should become a leading centre for marine activity, balancing industry, fisheries, marine research, tourism, agriculture and the environmental constraints of the coast. Without a thicker base of firms and a healthier job market, the rest is just a description on a slide.
Why this file matters
The strategy Sur is being measured against
The jobs and businesses that show whether the governorate has a working economy, or just a project list.
The official MOHUP role is unambiguous: Ash Sharqiyah South should become a leading centre for marine activity, balancing industry, fisheries, marine research, tourism, agriculture and the environmental constraints of the coast.
- Sur is meant to operate as a stronger urban, commercial and tourism centre.
- Marine-linked sectors are supposed to range from fisheries and research to administration and tourism rather than sitting in a narrow niche.
- The strategy repeatedly stresses the need to keep marine and coastal growth in balance with fragile environmental conditions.
Related topic files
Five more ways into the Ash Sharqiyah South execution map
These linked files cover the other live tests in the same governorate, so the numbers on capital, jobs, services, tourism, utilities, and urban buildout can be read together instead of in isolation.
Ash Sharqiyah South topic file
Capital deployment
How much money is actually being committed, and whether the property market is picking up the signal.
Ash Sharqiyah South topic file
Urban buildout and housing
Population, permits and whether the place is actually being built fast enough for the role it has been handed.
Ash Sharqiyah South topic file
Tourism and place economy
Hotels, occupancy, and whether the place is becoming a real destination or just adding rooms.
Ash Sharqiyah South topic file
Human capability and essential services
Whether schools and hospitals are keeping up — the simplest read on whether people can build a life here.
Ash Sharqiyah South topic file
Infrastructure and utilities
Roads, water and the quiet base layer that usually decides whether any of the rest of it actually works.