How would you rate the quality of manpower and human resources in the Sultanate of Oman today?

Since the dawn of the renaissance era in the Sultanate, considerable attention has been attached to the development of human resources, as human being is the goal of development and its means at the same time. Thus the future vision of the Omani economy (Oman 2020) has focused on this issue, in order to achieve the comprehensive and sustainable development. Having in mind that the human being is the real wealth of the country, considerable efforts were extended to provide them with appropriate education and training to ensure the qualitative development of the manpower, particularly that availing job opportunities and achieving a balance between the supply of manpower and its demand in the labour market represents a real challenge facing almost all countries.

In line with this vision, the government is keen to implement the Royal Directives of His Majesty the Sultan to provide citizens in the various regions and governorates with qualitative and advanced education and training, so as to develop their skills, enrich their experiences and enable them to actively contribute to the development efforts and assist in shifting the Omani economy towards the knowledge economy stage.

General, higher and technical education and vocational training in the Sultanate have witnessed remarkable development at the start of the decade in an endeavor to meet the requirements of the labor market for technical and scientific occupations and skills.

What has been achieved during the past years has helped in upgrading the quality and graduates of general education and developing and diversifying vocational training with the increase of government vocational training centers, private training institutions and technical colleges. Such colleges were also expanded and their educational programs have been developed. Health institutes were also expanded to include more academic and training specializations.

This is in addition to the development of university education at Sultan Qaboos University and private universities and colleges. Other educational institutions such as Oman Tourism College, Fishermen Qualifying Institutes and Oman Marine College and other educational and training institutions have been established and some procedures have been endorsed to control the quality of education and training in the country, in order to enhance the output of such educational and training programs and to ensure its ability in satisfying the labour market needs. All this, besides the ongoing coordination with the Ministry of Higher Education, will help direct the post general education to avail specialists to meet the labor market present and future requirements for qualified national cadres. We are reassured that such developments in education and training will help the country to reach an advanced level of quality and efficiency with regard to the human resources and that of manpower.

In the light of the current economic boom happening in the Sultanate of Oman and resultant thrust on development projects, is there an increased demand for people with the right skills and experience to fill up jobs that arise?

The experiences of the economically advanced countries indicate that the economic growth could be sustainable if it focuses on the following four factors:

• Development of human resources.
• The efficiency of infrastructure.
• Technological development.
• Availing a conducive environment to the growth of businesses and establishments.

Such potentials are available in the Sultanate, in the light of economic renaissance and the active contribution of the private sector to the development efforts and the remarkable increase in the volume of foreign investments, as well as the development of individual initiatives of citizens who are keen to utilize the opportunities offered by the Sanad Program to establish their own businesses and self-employment projects.

The availability of the aforesaid potentials and the considerable efforts exerted in the Sultanate to develop human resources through the qualitative education and training programs and continuous execution of huge infrastructure projects, combined  with the development of the production technologies and the investment laws to ensure a flexible investment friendly environment to enhance the establishing of businesses and the continuation of the already established  institutions in the various economic sectors are among the factors which contribute to achieving high growth rates.

The developmental progress being witnessed by the Sultanate during this prosperous era and the high growth rates of the economy and the diversification of the economy and income sources have prompted an increase in the number of Omani employees in the private sector which reached (235000 person) by the end of 2007, compared to (138000 person) in 2000, constituting an annual rate of growth of (8%).  At the same time the demand for expatriate workers rose from (494699 person) in 2000 to (799754 person) by the end of 2007, with annual rate of growth of (7%); (10.4%) of them are holders of university degrees, specialists and skilled and experienced persons who are qualified to take up available job opportunities in private establishments, (7%) were technicians, (22%) occupational workers, (20%) skilled workers and the remaining numbers were either limited skill, or ordinary workers.
Expatriate workers are distributed among the various economic sectors as follows:
(33%) in the contracting sector, (22%) in the services sector,(14%) in the commerce sector, (12%) in the agricultural sector, (11%) in the industrial sector and (6%) in the tourism sector.

What are the initiatives of your ministry in fulfilling this demand?

The Ministry of Manpower is keen to cooperate with the private sector establishments, in availing their requirement for manpower, in order to implement their projects and expand their activities. The ministry is keen to avail the national manpower with job opportunities, in order to meet the increasing demand for such manpower. In case the balance between the supply and demand is not struck, the ministry coordinate with private establishments to achieve the following:

a) Preparing and qualifying job seekers and providing them with vocational training opportunities, through contracts between the trainee and the establishment that have a vacancy and is ready to employ the job seeker after training, and the institute which undertakes the training responsibility. The government incurs the training costs, on condition that the trainee completes the training period and the employer employs him after completing the training program.

b) Providing the establishments with expatriate workers, if it is proved that there is actual work for the required workers and there is no Omanis seeking employment in those occupations, and provided that the expatriate worker occupies an occupation which is not different from his own real occupation.

The ministry is keen to avail job seekers among citizens with job opportunities and to cooperate with the private sector to ensure that its requirement for manpower from external sources is met. It is also keen to safeguard the interests of expatriate workers and always ensures that they work in the same occupations they were brought for, and it checks their employment contracts to ensure that foreign workers are granted their rights and wages according to the provisions of the labor law.

Some professions and job categories are now reserved exclusively for Omanis. Has there been any study or review to gauge the effectiveness, for e.g. like that of selling fruits and vegetables. The Wadi Kabir fruit and vegetables market, that was once bustling with activity now almost empty barring a couple of vendors. Are there then not many takers for such jobs? Please comment.
I would like to remind that all countries of the world are keen to provide their national manpower with job opportunities. Moreover, the constitutions in these countries stipulate that work is a right of the citizen and their governments are concerned with administering and developing the economy to enable their citizens to get job opportunities, to contribute to the development of their homelands and upgrade their living conditions and help increase production and achieve greater growth rates.

For us in the Sultanate, and in the light of the social and economic advancement witnessed by the country, it is necessary to regulate the labor market, in order to provide national job seekers with the jobs which suit their vocational and scientific capabilities. This is besides meeting the national economy>s requirement for expatriate manpower which we appreciate its efforts in the progress achieved in various fields. Thus in the areas where we have enough national cadres to take up vacancies, some procedures have been taken to encourage the national manpower to take up such jobs. Such procedures were meant to curb the unequal competition between expatriate and national workers. These procedures included denial of issuing recruitment licenses for certain occupations in which we have enough numbers of nationals to carry out.

With regard to gauging the effectiveness of the national manpower in carrying out their tasks, I should mention that the banking sector which is a leading sector in the Omani economy has achieved around (95%) of Omanisation. Similar Omanisation rates have been achieved in education, health and government services sectors. Though the numbers of expatriate workers in the private sector are increasing, still the number of Omanis in this sector is picking up, as Omanisation has reached (63%) in telecommunications and oil and gas and electricity and water sectors which adopt highly advanced technologies. In the transport, navigation, travel and tourism sectors, a (50%) Omanisation has been achieved and in the selling and distribution sector it reached (40%), while the number of expatriate workers in this sector reached        (38990) as at the end of 2007. Omani cadres have taken up senior administrative posts in various establishments operating in the various economic activities, whether in administrative, financial, accounting, engineering, or technical fields.

The effectiveness of Omanis working in the private sector is developing, as the national cadres acquire experiences and thanks to the efforts being extended to upgrade their educational levels and their vocational and technical skills that is combined with the manpower quality control program and the focus on the quantity and quality manpower at the same time.

With regard to the Wadi Kabir vegetables and fruits market, which was once bustling with activity and now almost empty barring a couple of vendors, the reason is that a private investment company which was granted some administrative privileges has invested part of this market by opening a vegetables and fruits selling outlet and used the remaining space as stores for its own purposes and services.

This case has nothing to do with a shortage of Omani workers who are interested to work in this field. On the contrary this occupation is highly desired by the national manpower and such outlets are bustling with activity in all parts of the Sultanate.   A total of (5675) such shops, employing (12503) Omanis were opened and is functioning well and profitable in various wilayats as at the end of 2007.