Opinion- Omanisation's missing number

The number of Omanis in private-sector employment increased by almost 15,000 in the first eight months of 2026, while the expatriate workforce declined.
What the headline figures do not reveal is how much of that change is occurring in technical, specialised and leadership positions.
By the end of August, 445,799 Omanis were working in the private sector, compared with 430,913 at the end of 2025 — a net increase of 14,886. Over the same period, the expatriate private-sector workforce fell by 2,585 to 1,408,882.
These are changes in employment stocks, not a count of who secured each newly created job. Hiring, departures and movement between employers occur simultaneously.
That distinction is important because another Oman Vision 2040 indicator shows that Omanis accounted for 11.8 per cent of private-sector jobs created in 2024, up from 10.5 per cent in 2023.
The two figures measure different things in different periods: one is the net change in people employed during 2026; the other is the Omani share of jobs created in 2024.
Neither, however, answers a more structural question: what kinds of jobs are Omanis securing?
Oman Vision 2040 has already anticipated this question.
Its 2022–2023 report listed among its suggested indicators the percentage of Omanis in technical, specialised and leadership positions in the private sector as a share of all workers holding those jobs.
The 2024–2025 Vision report continues to emphasise strengthening Omani capabilities in such positions. Yet a regular public reading of that suggested indicator is not among the main labour-market measures currently published.
The closest measure is the share of skilled workers in total private-sector employment, which reached 56.6 per cent in 2024, from 56.2 per cent in 2023.
But that figure covers Omanis and expatriates together. It tells us whether the private-sector workforce is becoming more skilled, not whether Omanis are taking a larger share of skilled work.
Wage data provide another piece of the picture.
NCSI's Statistical Year Book 2026 records 374,903 insured Omanis in the private sector in 2025. The lowest band in its wage table, RO325 to less than RO400, alone contains 159,011 workers — 42.4 per cent of the total. The first three published bands, all below RO600, account for 249,496 workers, or 66.5 per cent.
The table labels the measure as basic wages, but its published distribution does not include a separate band below RO325. It should therefore not be used to estimate how many workers are receiving the statutory minimum wage.
Salary alone also cannot determine whether a job is skilled, productive or offers a strong career path.
But the figures reinforce the case for looking beyond headcounts.
Occupational data bring their own problem: job titles can change without a corresponding change in responsibility, skill or compensation.
The safeguard is consistent classification backed by administrative data.
The Labour Law issued by Royal Decree 53/2023 already provides much of that framework. Article 22 requires employers with 25 or more workers to use the Ministry of Labour's approved occupational classification and to prepare plans for appointing and training Omanis for leadership occupations.
Article 25 requires employers to report newly created and vacant positions, including the comprehensive wage allocated to each and the intended date for filling them. It also requires workers in the establishment's register to be classified by skill level and occupational group.
Much of the information required to measure deeper Omanisation therefore already exists within the administrative system.
NCSI and the Ministry of Labour should publish, at least annually and preferably quarterly, the Omani share of technical, specialised and leadership occupations, broken down by major economic sector. Wage bands could provide an additional cross-check, while the same series would show whether the occupational structure is changing over time.
That would be particularly useful in 2026, when the national employment plan targets 33,000 opportunities for citizens in the private sector across manufacturing, energy, logistics, finance, technology, mining and other activities.
Counting those opportunities matters.
But as Oman seeks more value from advanced industries and knowledge-intensive services, another measure becomes increasingly important: Not only how many Omanis work in the private sector, but where they sit within its skills and responsibility structure.