MORE THAN HALF MILLION NEW JOBS IN FOUR YEARS

Total number of workers in Oman’s private and government sectors stood at 2,255,409 at the end of 2016

MUSCAT: More than half a million new jobs were created in Oman between 2012 and 2016, according to recently released government data.

The National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) has revealed that the total number of workers in Oman’s private and government sectors stood at 2,255,409 at the end of 2016.

Back in 2012, the total number of jobs stood at 1,682,574 million, which means that 572,835 more jobs were created in Oman in just four years. These jobs were created despite a fall in oil prices between 2012 and 2016. Oman crude traded at an average of around $100 in 2012. Its value fell to $54.26 towards the end of 2016.

A diversification programme has been aggressively pursued by the Sultanate, and Oman’s Council of Ministers recently announced a programme to provide 25,000 new jobs for Omanis.

More than 80 per cent of those working in Oman as of end-2016 were expatriates, according to the NCSI data. Statistics show that 1,825,603 million jobs are occupied by expatriates, while Omanis occupy 429,806 jobs across both government and private sectors.

Milhan Baig, Head of Financial Advisory at Deloitte, Oman, said: “With IMF’s 3.7 per cent real GDP growth forecast for Oman next year and the substantial number of projects coming on line over recent years, it is encouraging to see the activity upswing being reflected through more jobs being created in Oman.