Tuesday 19 / November / 2024
Muscat: Some 84 per cent of the government’s Omanisation target has already been achieved, with one month left for the first stage to end.
Also read: 'Efforts to raise Omanisation target in construction sector'
More than 21,035 Omanis have been employed in various private sector institutions across the Sultanate between December 2017 and April 2, 2018, according to the Ministry of Manpower (MoM).
An official at the MoM told the Times of Oman that the ministry expects to hire 25,000 Omanis by the end of May. “The ministry continues to hire job-seekers in private sector institutions to meet the needs of the sector,” he said.
“This is considered a great achievement, and this came with the cooperation of the private sector to implement the royal decree,” said Aziz Al Hasni, Shura Council member.
The drive is part of the government’s historic plan announced in October to provide jobs to Omani nationals. The Council of Ministers announced that 25,000 jobs would be provided to Omanis.
Then, in January 2018, a six-month ban on hiring expat workers in 87 jobs was imposed by the MoM.
The hiring freeze came into effect, following the issuance of ministerial decree 2018/38, which was issued by the Minister of Manpower Abdullah bin Nasser Al Bakri.
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Sectors affected by the ban include IT, media, air traffic, engineering, accounting and finance, technicians, insurance, marketing and sales, administration and HR. According to the latest data by the MoM, of those employed, 14,150 were men and 6,885 were women, with sectors such as construction, wholesale and retail trade, manufacturing and transport witnessing the highest recruitment levels.
The construction sector hired 32.9 per cent of the total number of workers employed, followed by wholesale and retail trade with 14.4 per cent, while manufacturing hired 13.6 per cent, and transportation employed 6.9 per cent.
Reem Ahmed, an accountant who is among the Omanis employed by this new plan, said: “I feel very lucky to have found a job, and I will try my best to work hard in order to repay my country.”
In terms of educational level, 48.4 per cent held below diploma degrees, 34.5 per cent had diploma degrees and 17.1 per cent had higher education degrees.
The MoM has reaffirmed that for the next three months, it will focus on providing job opportunities to job seekers holding college diplomas and university graduates.
“Training opportunities for young people in private sector institutions should be provided during their studies so that there is no excuse for institutions not to employ them after graduation,” Al Hasni said.
Private Sector
Omanisation in the private sector has increased to 12.1 per cent in 2017, an increased from 11.4 percent in 2015, according to recent data by the MoM. The highest Omanisation rate is in financial and insurance activity, with 80.4 per cent.
In terms of professions in the private sector, clerical professions saw the highest rate of Omanisation at 95.5 per cent.
In the government sector, Omani employees amount to 86.9 per cent of the total employees.
It is important to continuously work with the private sector to achieve the government’s plan.
‘We [Shura Council] are in ongoing meetings with private sector officials and they assured us that there are many job opportunities that can be annually available to jobseekers in different sectors, but this needs an administrative organising,” said Al Hasni.
He added, “The legislative authorities must meet and discuss with the private sector and listen to their demands to modify some regulations and policies.”
