Focus on giving jobs to Omanis with diplomas, university degrees

The Council of Ministers announced that 25,000 jobs would be provided to Omanis.

Some 29,176 Omanis were employed in private sector institutions across the Sultanate between December 2017 and May 14, 2018, according to statistics released by MoM on Tuesday

The construction sector hired 32 per cent of workers, followed by wholesale and retail trade with 14.6 per cent, while manufacturing hired 13.3 per cent.

According to the latest MoM data, 19,878 of those recruited were men and 9,298 were women. Of them, 13,808 held below diploma degrees, 10,043 held diploma degrees and 5,325 had higher education degrees.

The MoM reaffirmed that for the next three months it would focus on providing jobs to those with college diplomas and to university graduates.

Regarding the six-month ban on hiring expat workers across 87 jobs, an official earlier confirmed that the ban would continue as long as there were Omanis who were fit for these jobs.

“Providing jobs for Omanis will go on even after reaching the hiring target,” the official said, adding, “Most Omanis were hired in the construction sector as it has lots of job vacancies especially in the engineering, technical and administration fields.”

“The ministry conducted a study, which showed that many Omani job-seekers have the qualifications for the 87 professions the ministry barred to expats. Based on this, the ministry decided on the hiring freeze,” he said.

The sectors affected by the ban include IT, media, air traffic, engineering, accounting and finance, technicians, insurance, marketing and sales, administration and HR.

Omanisation in the private sector has increased to 12.1 per cent in 2017, from 11.4 per cent in 2015, according to MoM data.