Muscat: In a press conference, Dr. Mahad bin Saeed Baowain, Minister of Labour, announced the ambitious goals that the Ministry seeks to achieve during the current year.

He confirmed that the Ministry aims to create 35,000 jobs in the public and private sectors, while achieving a 90% rate of job replacement in the government sector.

Baowain explained that the total number of employees in permanent and temporary jobs in the government sector reached about 195,902 by the end of August 2023, including 170,735 Omanis and 25,167 non-Omanis.

In addition, he indicated that the number of workers in the private sector reached 2,145,553 workers by the end of 2023, including 253,399 Omanis and 1,892,154 non-Omanis (commercial and private).

Baowain indicated that there is an initiative being studied for families in which no one is working.

This path could be either by updating job descriptions and limiting competition to this category or by creating a programme dedicated only to this category.

In a related context, he shed light on the controversy surrounding the Omani Aviation Training Program, which has raised many questions in recent times, including the current status of the trainee pilots and their fate after they complete the training program.

Dr. Baowain explained that there was a joint training programme that was launched in cooperation with Oman Air, which was aimed at training and qualifying Omani aviation personnel to join the labour market in this important sector.

Despite challenges during the training period, a number of trainees were able to successfully complete the programme and graduate.

With the exacerbation of the financial crisis that Oman Air is suffering from, there is now a challenge in committing to hiring graduates who have completed the training programme.

In this context, the Minister explained that the Ministry is continuing discussions and negotiations with the relevant authorities to find appropriate solutions to this problem.

On the other hand, Oman Air issued a clarification statement, confirming its continuation of the training programme for trainee pilots.

The company indicated that it has accepted 86 Omani trainees as trainee pilots, as part of its initiatives to empower Omani cadres in the field of commercial aviation.

In a new development, training contracts linked to employment were signed for 21 pilots from among the previous graduates, with the aim of finding job opportunities for them in Oman Air or in other airlines. In this context, the company expressed its readiness to receive more graduates to join its team.

Transfer of Employment Responsibility to Sectors:

The Ministry of Labor of Oman announced a new strategy to transfer employment responsibility to sectors. This means that the owners of these sectors will be responsible for providing the resources and human resources that the sector needs.

According to His Excellency Sheikh Nasr Al-Hassani, Undersecretary of Labor, the result of this will be in the coming year, where there will be quality jobs available. Al-Hassani added that what the ministry will do is provide logistical support and also training and rehabilitation in coordination with the owners of these sectors.

He added that there are jobs that no one knows about or knows how to allocate them except those who are in these sectors. Al Hassani pointed out that there is a good experience regarding this strategy with the energy and oil sector in particular, which now manages its human resources needs.

His Excellency indicated that this experience will be applied in other sectors such as tourism, fisheries, and higher education. Al Hassani also added that the Ministry of Labor will be present and effective in ensuring the implementation of the provision of human resources.

Transition Between sectors

In a related context, Al Hassani said that what matters to job seekers now is to know that the transition between sectors now exists. Where a person can work in the private sector and apply for a job in the public or government sector, and the opposite is also true, because insurance is now unified in one fund.

Al Hassani pointed out that this is important because many job seekers in the past refrained from working in the private sector and waited for a government job, believing that working in the private sector would not allow them to get a job opportunity in the government sector.

Focus on Skills

Al Hassani emphasized that the future of employment will not be based on specialization Only but on skills. It encouraged everyone to develop their skills to match job opportunities, as these skills are what will open up opportunities for individuals and give them a better chance of competing and obtaining jobs.

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