The campaign to boot expats out of the Middle East has taken another turn for the worst as the Omani government pledged to slash 100,000 private sector jobs.
The government announced the move to boost the number of jobs available for out of work locals.
Official figures show expats outnumber Omanis by six to one on the nation’s workforce.
Minister of Manpower Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Al Bakri confirmed the government wanted to cut the number of expat works in the country from 39% of the workforce to a third – taking the current number of expats down from 692,867 to 586,272.
The minister went on to explain that nearly 225,000 Omanis work for private companies – which is just under 15% of the private workforce of 1.53 million.
One of the problems Oman faces is local workers do not have the skills to compete for work, so the government is launching a drive to give them more qualifications.
Lack of skills
Giving a list of figures, the minister indicated the policy to swap jobs from expat to locals had not time limit and depended on Omanis acquiring suitable skills and qualifications.
Although 940,000 expats do not have a general level diploma compared to just under 81,000 Omanis, the numbers reverse for more skilled workers, with:
- 209,000 expat diploma holders outnumbering 101,000 Omanis
- 36,000 expat graduates against 20,000 Omanis
- 124,000 expats with degrees compared with nearly 23,000 Omanis
Although Omanis hold 95% of clerical jobs, they fall short in every other sector –
- Services 20%
- Administration 17%
- Industrial jobs 13%
- Engineering 7%
- Technical 2%
- The professions 18%
- Sales 15%
- Agriculture 7%
Expats already banned from working
“The government is not setting any deadline on employing more Omanis in the private sector or to a specific sector, but we are hoping local people will work hard to earn the necessary skills and qualifications they need to compete with expats so they can find a place in the job market,” said the minister.
“Giving jobs to expats has already been banned in some sectors, like construction, cleaning, sales and carpentry.”
As iExpats has reported recently, similar plans to cut the number of expat jobs are underway in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait as the Gulf States strive to help their jobless nationals find work ahead of outsiders.
The moves include a freeze on public sector contracts and a push to encourage locals to take private sector jobs across the region as governments fear Arab Spring civil unrest may spread to their nations.
