OMANI JOBLESS ‘WILL RESENT EXPATS’
More than 60 per cent of citizens looking for work have degrees, but natives make up only 10 per cent of private sector staff
Disgruntled young people are looking for work and looking for answers,
MUSCAT // More than two years after leaving university, Nawaf Al Omar is still trying to land his first job.
“Either my applications are ignored or if I go for interviews, I don’t get the job,” said the 25-year-old graduate in airport management. Unemployment in Oman is at 12 per cent and, like many other educated young people, Mr Al Omar is becoming increasingly disgruntled and questioning why foreign workers are being hired instead of citizens.
“Why do foreign workers get preference over us? Because of cheap labour. They expect less than us Omanis.” While Omanis make up 86 per cent of employees in the government sector, they only account for about 10 per cent of staff in the private sector, according to the ministry of manpower.
The private sector employs about 1.8 million expatriates – compared with about 223,000 Omanis – in various positions. There are more than 54,000 Omanis looking for jobs. Of that figure, nearly 33,000 are university graduates.
Last month, commerce minister Ali Al Sunaidi warned that at least 35 per cent of the workforce at private companies should be Omani, or they would start to lose state benefits.
That target was set in 2010 as part of the sultanate’s Omanisation process, which began in 1988 with a drive to replace expatriates in key sectors such as engineering, education, health and finance.
The government established the Omanisation Committee the same year to encourage the private sector to employ Omanis.
State benefits granted to private companies that comply with the Omanisation drive include free commercial lands, training and low-interest loans.
The government also organises regular job fairs to help the recruitment process.
But for the unemployed, Oman offers no state benefits. Some young Omanis say that the high unemployment rate is exacerbating resentment towards expatriates.
“It is not a healthy situation when you have thousands of jobless Omanis, while hundreds of thousands of expatriates have jobs,” said Hamood Al Nabhani, a 24-year-old business graduate.
“It can only be interpreted one way – expatriates take our jobs. Are we supposed to salute them when we see them in the streets? Of course not. If this continues, we will see an undesirable clash between the two communities and this will not benefit the country at all.”
Young Omanis staged protests across the country in 2011 to demand jobs. There were clashes with police during which many demonstrators were arrested but later released.
The government responded by creating 50,000 state jobs within 12 months. The Omani unemployment rate in 2011 was about 15 per cent but dropped to just under 5 per cent in 2013 before rising again as large numbers of new graduates joined the job market. The drop in oil prices – from US$120 (Dh440) a barrel in 2014 to about US$50 now – has also dented the government’s ability to create jobs.
Employment analysts said resentment over expatriates taking jobs in the country was unlikely to go away without a swift government response.
“As the rate of unemployment increases, young Omanis will get more frustrated,” said Hamood Al Toky, director at Capital Manpower Agency.
“It may cause certain problems in the delicate harmony that exists now between Omanis and expatriates. The government needs to act fast to ensure the jobless spend less time unemployed.”
Technology experts said young people now had better networking tools to vent their disappointment than they did in 2011.
“Social media was not as deep in 2011 as it is now,” said Said Al Jabri, proprietor of Iconic Information Technology. “Young people get their thoughts shared in seconds. In- formation spreads like wildfire. This is something we need to try to contain.”
Oman has allocated almost 1.6 billion rials (Dh15.1 billion) for education this year, which is 13 per cent of its annual budget.
Last year, it allocated 9 per cent of the budget for education. “We spend all that money to educate young Omanis and they come out of the education system without jobs,” said Mr Al Jabri.
Employers blame the government for awarding fewer contracts to the private sector since the fall in oil prices , making companies unable to afford to employ as many Omanis. But Omanis carry some blame because their expectations can be unrealistic.
“Since oil prices went down, the government has either reduced its expenditure on projects or cancelled them,” said Saleh Al Maashari, managing director of logistics and supply chain.
“That has reduced our income. Omanis expect to be paid double what we pay expatriates.”
‘ This may cause certain problems in the delicate harmony that exists now between Omanis and expatriates Hamood Al Toky Director at Capital Manpower Agency