Muscat – The government’s Omanisation efforts to replace expatriate workers with locals is progressing in earnest and the Ministry of Labour (MoL) has in recent past intensified a long-standing programme to create employment opportunities for citizens by training and equipping them with additional skills.

According to figures of the 2021 Statistical Year Book released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information, the rate of replacing expat employees with Omanis has risen remarkably in five sectors – commercial banking, oil and gas, communications, insurance and hospitality.

Commercial banks have maintained a lead in Omanisation, with 94.4 per cent of jobs held by Omanis at the end of last year against 93.7 per cent at the end of 2020; 11,477 Omanis worked in banks, compared to 680 expatriates.

In the oil and gas sector, Omanis accounted for 88.1 per cent – or 17,565 – of the total workforce at the end of 2021 compared to 85.5 per cent in 2020.

In the communications sector, there were a total of 3,764 workers in 2021, 3,479 of these being Omanis, while Omanisation in the insurance sector rose to 81.9 per cent in 2021 against 78.8 per cent in 2020. There were a total of 3,006 insurance workers – 2,463 Omanis and 543 expatriates.

The hospitality sector employed 4,243 Omanis among a total of 11,650 employees. Omanisation in the sector rose from 33.8 per cent in 2020 to 36.4 per cent in 2021 amid efforts to increase the number of Omani employees.

Earlier this year, H E Dr Mahad bin Said bin Ali Ba’owain, Minister of Labour, stated that the ministry is working towards providing 35,000 job opportunities through recruitment, replacement and training for citizens in 2022.

According to the minister, the government is exerting efforts to ensure the wellbeing of youth in the labour market. Towards this goal, it negotiated terms with a number of private sector establishments that were considering termination of services of Omani workers last year. He also informed that a new Labour Law is in finalisation stages, currently awaiting approval of the Council of Ministers.

The total number of employment opportunities created, including replacement of expatriates with Omani citizens, in the public and private sectors was 10,017 in the first quarter of 2022, constituting 29 per cent of the target – 35,000 – for 2022.

Out of the total – 10,017 – 2,573 positions were created in the public and private sectors by replacing expatriates.

A total of 23,271 citizens were employed in the first six months of 2022, according to Salim Said al Badi, director general of Labour Welfare, MoL. Of the 23,271 citizens appointed in H1 2022, 10,454 appointments were in the government sector and 12,817 in the private.

In July this year, MoL issued a decision to Omanise 207 professions.