Oman to nationalise around 140,000 jobs in private and government sectors, the Minister of Labour Dr Mahad Bin Saeed said during a local TV channel interview. Under the new labour reform, Omani citizens will replace 10 per cent of jobs currently carried out by expatriate workers.
In the first phase, around 10,000 jobs including 4000 in the government sector will be handed over to the Omani citizens, with 32,000 jobs targeted this year.
The Minister stated that training and prior experience are essential for most professions, and efforts will be made to achieve the goal. Saeed added that the development of human resources of the country is a challenging matter and that the Ministry is working to provide necessary training to recruit qualified persons through promoting Omanization programmes.
Oman currently hosts employment opportunities to around 1,500,000 expats. However, the exacerbations caused by the Covid-19 pandemic forced many companies to cut short of its expat employees and lowering of their incomes. Furthermore, the soon-to-be-enforced nationalisation drive will also result in major outflow of expatriates employed in Oman.