Fall in educated expatriates in Oman

MUSCAT, MARCH 2 - On the back of ban on recruitment to several professions, the biggest demographic change is seen in the number of educated expatriates working in the Sultanate. According to data from the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), there has been an across-the-board fall in expatriates with education above secondary level during the period from January 2018 to the same month this year. This is amid a decline of 3.7 per cent in the total number of foreigners working in the Sultanate to reach 1,782,248 in the 12-month period.

While the highest decline of 7.8 per cent is registered in the number of higher diploma holders, those with Masters’ degree dropped by 6.4 per cent during the period. Similarly, university graduates witnessed a fall of 5.8 per cent, followed by diploma holders 4 per cent. The number of foreign workers with secondary education stood at 233,513 from 234,918 a year before. Experts in the human resources sector attribute job uncertainty as the major reason for many educated expatriates opting to leave the country.

“With the government decision to freeze hiring of expatriate workers to a number of high profile professions has made a big impact on the job market,” said Ahmed al Balushi, a human resource manager with a finance company. In addition to this, opined Ahmed, many companies, “as part of their cost cutting measures, are reducing the headcounts”. Ahmed said that the government’s recent decision to ban recruitment of expatriates to a number of professions will further reduce the expatriate numbers in the country.

The number of expat employees in the government sector declined by 2.7 per cent to reach 57,477 in January this year from 57,734 in the same month last year. In the private sector, the number dropped by 4.5 per cent to reach 1,430,055 from 1,435,153 during the period. In a recent decision, the Ministry of Manpower has banned appointment of non-Omanis as director of admissions and registration department, director of student affairs, director of quality assurance and director of the career guidance department in the education sector. Again last month, the ministry extended the ban on recruitment in different sectors including information systems, accounting and finance, sales and marketing.

The latest data from the NCSI shows that worker arrivals in the Sultanate from Asian countries including India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have seen a big drop during the past one year. While Pakistanis witnessed a drop of 7.3 per cent to reach 216,222, Bangladeshis fell by 4.8 per cent at 657,222. This was followed by Indians with a drop of 4.1 per cent to reach 657,921. At the same time, there has been a remarkable rise in the number of Egyptians with the number reaching 31,960 showing a rise of 11.3 per cent, while Filipinos reached 47,772 at a 6-per cent rise.