Absconders hurt Oman economy

Muscat:

Absconding expatriate employees are negatively impacting Oman’s economy, according to the Human Development Report (HDR) of Oman 2012 released by the Supreme Council of Planning recently.

The report states that about a thousand expatriate employees abscond every month and that has big negative economic and social effects.

The report, covering a 10-year period from 2001 to 2010, blames factors like mismanagement of the businesses, lack of premises, delayed or non-payment of wages and prospects of better jobs for expatriates escaping from their original employer.

The report also states that ‘unjustified recruitment’ of expatriate workers has increased.

In January, Sultan Qaboos Bin Saeed urged Omanis to limit their requests for expatriate manpower. “There will be decisions and measures to limit this because it is time to take decisive action,” he had reiterated during his ‘Meet-the-People-Tour of central and eastern parts of the country.

The Omani leader had said that expatriate manpower in the country had increased beyond desirable levels. “The ratio we considered was always between 30 to 33 per cent of the population at the current time,” he had said then.

Authorities as well as analysts have blamed the illegal practice of ‘free visa’ for the large number of illegals as well as absconding workers in the country.

According to the report, expatriates are recruited in the name of fake establishments and after their arrival they start looking for work, thus violating the country’s residency rules.

The report also points out that when the original sponsor/employer lets his employee work for others, the regulated labour market faces a huge challenge.

Talking about the low wages for expatriate labour in the private sector, the report says that expatriate workers in the private sector were not included under the minimum wage rule. “The employer bears additional costs for procuring and employing the expatriate worker while this does not apply in the appointment of an Omani.”

The report says 52 per cent of all employees earn below 150 Omani riyals (Dh1,426) a month, 71 per cent of whom are expatriates. There were minor changes in the trend followed by a raise in minimum wages for Omani workers.

Pointing out various violations of residency laws, the report says that in many cases employers hire expatriate workforce for jobs other than the one mentioned in the visa for that particular worker. Non-renewal or delayed renewal of labour cards by employers was another violation pointed out in the report.

The report says that about 20 per cent of all employees received monthly wages of up to 451 riyals or more until 2010, the year of closure for the report.