MUSCAT, Jan 22 - The recruitment drive initiated by the Ministry of Manpower gathered pace with a further 2,097 Omanis getting jobs in just 15 days since the beginning of this month. This is in addition to the 4,126 jobs rolled out in the first month of employment process, which began in December. According to Mohammed Ghalib Ali al Hinai, Adviser for Human Resource Planning at the Ministry of Manpower, support to the programme from the private sector has been overwhelming.
“While some sectors have been bringing out their Omanisation plans, many still need to make more efforts to expedite the job plans,” he told the Observer.
Of the total number of jobs provided to the nationals in January, male candidates formed a massive 66 per cent.
According to data from the ministry, 1,034 who have been selected for jobs are with education below General Education Diploma, while 673 are with diploma and 381 hold university degrees.
The construction sector absorbed the highest number of 750 job-seekers followed by retail and wholesale with 278. The lowest 42 have been employed by the finance sector.
The employment process, launched following the decision by the Council of Ministers to employ 25,000 Omani job-seekers, goes through different levels in a period of six months. They include the Ministry of Manpower, the employment platforms and direct appointment by the employers themselves.
At present, the priority is for finalising recruitment of the job-seekers within six months from December 2017 to May 2018 mainly in the sectors of finance, insurance, industry, tourism and logistics.
“Many more steps will be taken in the coming days to support the national employment programme and increase the Omanisation rate,” said Al Hinai.
Meanwhile, data released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information shows that of the total 1.8 million employees in different government departments, 59,000 are foreign nationals.
The Ministry of Manpower in December set a deadline for the private companies to submit their Omanisation plans for the year 2018.
“The ministry will not look into expatriate manpower and recruitment applications for the private sector institutions and facilities if the Omanisation plan is not submitted before the deadline,” it said.
SAMUEL KUTTY
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