Oil price drop has hit job prospects of Omanis

Muscat: Scores of highly trained Omani technicians in the oil and gas sector are sitting idle due to the dip in the global oil price, according to a trade union leader in the sector. “Job prospects for Omanis in the oil and gas sector is bleak. Companies are not hiring trained job aspirants and even if they hire, they are made to sit idle as there is no work,” Saud Salmi, chairman of oil and gas sector workers unions in Oman, told Times of Oman. Currently, the trade union leader is handling a dozen cases where trainees have been left in the lurch.
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“In addition to this, some of the companies are also violating labour law by not providing jobs to the existing workers when they liquidate or merge their operations,” Saud added.
According to Article 47 of the Oman Labour Law, the contract of employment will continue to exist and the successors will be jointly responsible with the former employers for discharging all obligations prescribed by the law provided that priority will be given to the employee’s rights.
And Article 48 states that the employers shall be jointly liable among themselves for any violation of this law and the transfer of all or part of the business shall also be jointly liable with the original employer for discharging the entire obligations imposed by the rules.
“We are also handling such cases,” Saud said, adding that the situation in Oman may worsen if the oil price goes down further.
However, the trade union leader said that this year layoffs are lower compared to 2015.
Meanwhile, Zaher Al Saifi, who was trained by an oil company in Oman for 18 months in the technical section, is now spending his days as a driver just to survive.
Economic conditions
“I underwent an 18-month long training. A job was assured by the company after the completion of training with OMR650 per month as salary. However, in February this year, they just said no to us citing economic conditions. During the training period, they paid us OMR350 per month. They assured that they will continue the same until the situation betters. But it was stopped. Now, I am literally stranded,” Zaher said, adding that there are many Omanis struggling under the same circumstances.
In June, a survey conducted by the Ministry of Higher Education revealed that oil and gas positions, up until last year the most sought after jobs, have slumped, replaced with careers in tourism, hospitality and banking.
The current economic crisis faced by Oman has impacted job market trends in the country, according to the Employers Survey 2016. The survey, which was released in June, studied the private sector’s views about the suitability of graduates’ abilities and competence and enquired about plans for employing fresh graduates.
It also surveyed the skill set employers focus on when hiring graduates and touched upon the difficulties they face finding suitable graduates across different specialisations and qualifications.