Omanisation gets boost: Jobs for Omanis up in 5 sectors

Cairo: The rate of replacing foreigners with Omanis in an employment policy dubbed “Omanisation” has remarkably risen in five sectors in the sultanate, according to recent government figures.

These sectors are banks, oil, telecommunications, insurance and the hospitality industry, said a report issued by Oman’s National Centre for Statistics and Information, a government agency.

Commercial banks have maintained their lead in Omanisation, with 94.4 per cent of their jobs held by Omanis at the end of last year against 93.7 per cent at the end of 2020. More than 11,000 Omanis are manning banks in the country, according to the report cited by the daily newspaper Oman.

Omanis, meanwhile, accounted for 88.1 per cent or more than 17,000 of the total employees in the oil and gas companies in the country at the end of last year compared to 85.5 per cent at the end of 2020.

Since the fall in the crude prices around seven years ago, employment in the oil and gas sector has faced significant challenges as firms scaled back their investments, a trend compounded by fallout from the global pandemic, noted the newspaper.

However, efforts to replace expatriates with Omani nationals have paid off, limiting repercussions on employment opportunities in the sector, it said.

In the telecoms sector, there are a total of 3,764 workers, with Omanis accounting for 3,479 employees.

Moreover, Omanisation in the insurance sector rose to 81.9 per cent of the overall employees at the end of last year against 78.8 per cent at the end of 2020. There are a total of 3,006 insurance workers, including 2,463 Omanis.

Significantly, the insurance agent activities have been fully Omanised.

In the hotel industry, there are around 4,243 Omanis among a total of 11 employees in the sector. Omanisation in the hotel sector rose from 33.8 per cent to 36.4 per cent at the end of last year amid vigorous efforts to increase the number of Omani employees.

Overall, the number of Omanis working in the tourism sector stands at 14,000 against 15,000 before the outbreak of COVID-19.

Oman has recently stepped up efforts to create jobs for its citizens.

According to the Omani Ministry of Labour, around 33,000 jobs for Omanis are targeted this year in the public and private sectors as part of its employment and replacement programme. Around 23,000 Omanis have already been employed in the first half of this year, or 66 per cent of the overall target in 2022, according to official figures.

Last month, Oman announced banning expatriates from working in 207 professions in the sultanate, limiting them to Omanis.