Over 263,000 expat workers left Oman from Jan to Sept

Oman’s expatriate worker population has dropped by 15.3 per cent – accounting for over 263,000 people - in the first nine months of this year. Over 118,000 of those who left were from India.

According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), there were 1,712,798 expatriate employees working in various sectors in the sultanate at the end of 2019. The number dropped to 1,449,406 in September 2020 with 263,392 expatriates leaving Oman in the first nine months of 2020.

The figure was 1,490,421 in August 2020, accounting for 41,015 expatriate workers leaving in a month and 92,663 exiting since July 2020. In September 2020, the number of expatriates working in the government sector reduced by 11,698 to 42,989 when compared to figures at the end of 2019.

The expatriate workforce in the private sector shrank by 215,778 over the same period to 1,148,177, while those engaged in the domestic/family sector came down by 35,916 to 258,240.

Though Bangladeshi workers continue to make up the bulk of the expatriate population, their numbers declined by 80,210 in the nine months till September 2020, and now account for 550,471 workers. The Indian expat worker population declined by 118,299 to 499,431, while the Pakistani worker population fell by 30,738 to 176,550.

Filipinos – 4,418 left reducing their number to 45,038 workers - and Egyptians – 3,537 left to drop their total to 31,511 - make up the top five expatriate employee population.

The NCSI stated that the Governorate of Muscat, which is home to the largest number of expatriate workers, saw their number fall by 121,519 to 609,569 at the end of September 2020.

Expat numbers in Muscat governorate fell by 121,519 to 609,569 at the end of Sept 2020