Muscat – As the sultanate is pushing forward its Omanisation programme with the aim of creating employment opportunities for citizens, the attention accorded by His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik to youth got reflected in the Royal support to employment initiatives.

During the meeting of the Council of Ministers on January 3 this year, His Majesty the Sultan touched on the executive position of employment initiatives and programme.

He underlined the importance of raising the awareness of youth about global standards of work culture and the need to encourage them to undertaken self-employment. In this context, His Majesty the Sultan instructed the departments concerned to furnish appropriate environment for citizens to take all types of jobs and enterprises.

Giving preference to nationals when offering jobs is a key government policy for all countries, and Oman too has been working towards achieving a right mix of Omani and expatriate workforce in the private sector. The new policies issued by the Ministry of Labour (MoL) is gathering steam, more so to tackle the difficult economic conditions caused by the pandemic.

On October 11, 2022, His Majesty the Sultan pointed out that the draft of the new Labour Law, which was finalised by the government and will be issued shortly, will encourage investments, strike a balance between the interests of workers and employers, and provide guarantees for both parties so as to augment productivity and encourage jobseekers to join the private sector.

The visa ban on specific job roles for expatriate workers in the private sector and in-depth training programmes introduced to sharpen the skills of Omanis have definitely had a positive impact on Omanisation.

On May 31 last year, His Majesty the Sultan spoke about the role of education and vocational training in supplying the labour market with skilled national workers. In this context, His Majesty the Sultan gave directives to devise an integrated executive plan to develop this sector in cooperation with international institutions. He also called for the development of the technical education sector to help provide the labour market with technical expertise.

Earlier this month, MoL launched the Maak or ‘with you’ app for jobseekers, the national workforce, and employers to boost job creation. It currently contains more than 11 electronic services for jobseekers, while additional services for the national workforce and employers will be added later.

H E Dr Mahad bin Said bin Ali Ba’owain, Minister of Labour, said that the ministry provided 35,000 jobs in 2022 in the public and private sectors, surpassing the target for the year. He added that the number of jobseekers who joined the labour market in the private sector for the first time exceeded 20,000 last year and the number of people benefiting from the job security fund in 2022 increased by about 3,000 compared to 2021.

According to MoL, there were more than 85,000 jobseekers in the country till the end of October 2022.