Oman: Foreign worker numbers drop by 10.3% to 1.4m

Abu Dhabi: The number of expatriate workers in various sectors in Oman decreased by 10.3 per cent to 1.4 million at the end of last July, data published by the National Centre for Statistics and Information revealed.

This decrease was attributed to the government’s replacement policy to provide job opportunities for citizens, as the number of jobs that were created through replacement reached 2,847 by the end of the first half of the year.

These included 1,965 jobs in the Ministry of Health, 175 jobs in the Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation, 292 jobs at the University of Technology and Applied Sciences, 348 jobs in the Ministry of Education, 38 jobs in the Ministry of Information, 26 jobs in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning, and 3 jobs in Ministry of Agricultural Wealth, Fisheries and Water Resources.

According to the data, 1.1 million foreigners work in the private sector, 39,000 workers in the government sector, and 241000 in the domestic sector.

Expatriate workers in the private and domestic sectors are concentrated in engineering professions and domestic jobs with 544,000 workers, in addition to service professions with 402,000, 97,000 in the professions of industrial, chemical and food industries, 92,000 in sales, 81,000 in agriculture and animal and bird breeding, and 56,000 in scientific, technical and humanitarian jobs.

According to the data, most of the expatriate workers in the Sultanate are of Bangladeshi nationality, with 528,000, then Indians with 465,000, and Pakistanis with 179,000.

Most of them are concentrated in the Governorate of Muscat, with 582,000 workers, then North Al Batinah, with 194,000 workers, and 158,000 workers in Dhofar.