Number of expat workers dips

The number of expatriate workers in Oman declined 0.2 per cent to 1,847,120 in February from 1,850,119 at the end of January, said the National Center for Statistics and Information (NCSI) in its monthly release.

The number of expatriate workers at the end of December 2017 in Oman was 1,854,880 as against 1,848,175 in the same period in December 2016.

The number of expatriate workers in November 2017 declined 0.1 per cent to 1,858,040 from 1,859,654 in October. In September, the number was 1,861,948.

The number of expatriate workers from Pakistan dropped 0.4 per cent in February, followed by workers from Bangladesh at 0.3 per cent and Indian expatriate workers by 0.2 per cent.

There was an increase in the number of Filipino expatriates by 0.8 per cent (45,407) at the end of February. The total number of expatriates as of March 24, 2018 is 2,094,554, which is 45 per cent of the total population.

The biggest drop was seen in Dhofar (0.5 per cent) and in Muscat, by 0.2 per cent.

The numbers are significant as a sixmonth ban has been imposed on the hiring of expatriate professionals in 10 sectors in the Sultanate since January this year.

The sectors coming under the ban include information technology, finance, human resources and administration, marketing, insurance, media, medical field, aviation sector, engineering and technical fields.

A total of 16 jobs have been banned in IT sector, including cybersecurity specialist, computer engineer, computer programmer, among others.