Muscat: Oman’s Ministry of Labour, in cooperation with the Oman Investment Authority, held a meeting with the executive heads of various government companies, to discuss replacement plans of the expatriate workforce with Omani cadres. The priority is employing Omanis in leadership and supervisory professions in government organisations.
As per the August monthly bulletin released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the number of expatriate workers in the Sultanate has fallen by 14.3 per cent on a year on year record for the period ending August 2020. The September bulletin of NCSI for 2020 showed that there has been an almost 20 per cent decline in the expatriate workforce in government sector and 15 per cent in the private sector compared to last year.
Dr. Mahad bin Saeed Baouin, Oman’s Minister of Labour, today stressed the need to accelerate the replacement of the expatriate workforce with Omanis, reports Oman News Agency. Dr Baouin emphasised the importance of training and qualifying the national workforce on the job.
Oman’s Ministry of Labour has been initiating several moves to procure more jobs for Omanis in private as well as government sector. A recent move by the Ministry to discontinue sub-contracting of expatriate employees is expected to open up more job avenues for Omani candidates. The Labour Ministry recently met with the HR officials from major banks, finance companies and money exchange houses to start job training and skill transfer to Omani staff.
The Ministry’s social media handles carry news and informative links about the job openings available for nationals in different governmental organisations like Royal Oman Police, Royal Navy Oman and also in various sectors like hospitality and technical services.
The expatriate population in Oman has reduced this year as compared to previous year by 10.2 per cent among Bangladeshis, 14.5 per cent among Indians, 11.9 per cent among Pakistanis and 1.1 per cent among Egyptians.
