MUSCAT: The number of job-seekers until the end of last November reached 74,000, and the Ministry of Labour, through the 'Sahim' initiative, accommodated the majority of them by giving permanent contracts, while the rest are awaiting the availability of financial grades.
This was revealed by the Ministry of Labour during a media conference held on Wednesday to review the key achievements and initiatives accomplished during the year. It also discussed future approaches in the labour and human resource development sectors in alignment with the national vision and sustainable development requirements.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Mahad bin Said Baowain, Minister of Labour, said that the communication with the media forms part of the ministry’s ongoing efforts to enhance communication tools and strengthen transparency, noting that the labour sector affects all segments of society and involves diverse expectations and needs.
He said that the ministry seeks to balance labour market supply and demand by building accurate databases for employers and job-seekers, contributing to market stability and improved efficiency. He highlighted that digital transformation and direct engagement through electronic platforms and field meetings form key pillars in knowledge dissemination and service delivery.
He said that improvement in the work environment is achieved through an integrated legislative and regulatory framework, including the Labour Law and related regulations and decisions, which have contributed to enhancing the attractiveness of the work environment and achieving greater balance in labour relations.
Speaking at the media conference, Khalid bin Salim al Ghammari, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Labour for Labour, indicated that 50,000 jobs targeted in the private sector during 2026 will be distributed across two categories, including part of them for replacement in the oil, gas, logistics and tourism sectors, and the second will be provided directly or through wage support or training. He noted that in 2025, as many as 2,000 citizens from low-income families and people with disabilities were employed in the private sector, in addition to providing initiatives with financial grades in the government sector for people with disabilities for the current year.
NATIONAL TRAINING
In 2026, as many as 60,000 job opportunities will be provided, represented by 10,000 opportunities in the government sector, 33,000 in the private sector, and 17,000 through national training and qualification programmes.
Over 31,000 workers were caught during 15,000 inspection visits by labour welfare teams for violating various provisions of the Labour Law.
The meeting included a visual presentation on the performance of the labour and human resource development sectors and the Eleventh Five-Year Plan of the Ministry of Labour.
Ammar bin Salim al Saadi, Director-General of Labour at the Ministry of Labour, pointed out that 36,413 employment opportunities and 15,069 jobs through training, coupled with employment and replacement, were provided in 2025. He also announced that the sectoral committee in the field of employment governance announced the provision of 13,000 jobs. In the self-employment system, 2,300 professions were registered, and more than 4,000 Omanis were replaced in technical and leadership positions.
TERMINATIONS
He said that in the field of negotiation efforts, the ministry's Economic Committee in 2025, regarding cases of terminated services, succeeded in retaining 713 cases. In the field of following up on employment and terminated services, contracts for 2,146 individuals were renewed. In the field of negotiations, 4,388 cases were retained. The number of beneficiaries of the employment security scheme reached 660. He noted that more than 141,000 establishments are registered in the Wage Protection System.
For his part, Salim bin Hamoud al Jabri, Director-General of Regulation and Job Classification at the Ministry of Labour, pointed out that the improvement rate in performance results for the safety of applying the individual proficiency system in the human resource development sector reached 95 per cent.
He said that 48 units have applied management practices, studies, and research within the framework of the institutional innovation and change management system. He indicated that the Ejada system for measuring individual and institutional performance included the application of the institutional proficiency system by 67 government units, as more than 150 workshops and awareness meetings on institutional proficiency were implemented. He clarified that the national system for institutional innovation and change management included 48 units that applied practices for innovation and change management.
EJADA MATRIX
He pointed out that 300 employees obtained the Thomas certificate as certified assessors, and 89 per cent of administrative apparatus units determined patterns for analysing personal and leadership traits within the Ejada matrix for human resource management.
Meanwhile, Abdullah al Malahi, Assistant Director-General for Planning and Labour Policies, focused in his visual presentation on the ministry's qualitative outputs, programmes that confirm the impact and the priority of the state's administrative apparatus, while following up on beneficiaries' experiences through field visits to monitor their satisfaction and identify improvement opportunities.
The presentation included efforts to complete the electronic transformation of services, activate linkage with government entities, and develop comprehensive digital systems and programmes to provide an accurate database for measuring productivity and evaluating performance, contributing to raising the quality of public services and labour market efficiency.
LABOUR MARKET
He stated that the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) includes strategic programmes that keep pace with future labour market trends, reaching 17 programmes distributed across three priorities, including 12 programmes in the labour market and employment.
He added that the labour market and employment priority during 2026-2027 includes accelerating the absorption and employment of job-seekers in the public and private sectors and self-employment, developing employment programmes for job-seekers from special categories, and developing legislation and national competencies to monitor qualitative compliance for labour market inspection.
He indicated that the labour market and employment priority during 2028-2029 includes empowering national competencies through self-employment platforms, institutional partnership to employ competencies in priority economic sectors, and empowering national cadres to occupy supervisory, specialised and technical positions in the private sector.
A short film on the ministry's digital transformation was screened during the meeting, clarifying the role of electronic systems in monitoring performance indicators, enhancing beneficiary experience, developing training programmes coupled with replacement, and applying smart management of institutional processes, which supports institutional innovation and enhances governance.
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