[Oman-L] Oman: projects will drive demand for foreign workers

[Joachim Duester]

Project boom needs foreign labour: Oman   
Source: Reuters, 5 January 2010

Oman's spending on new projects, spurred by the recovery of oil prices, will raise the demand for foreign labour in 2010, the sultanate’s national economy minister said yesterday.

The Gulf Arab country expects to create 4,000 jobs in 2010 for nationals through the RO937m ($ 2.4bn) allocated for new projects, but Ahmad Makki said the projects will also drive demand for foreign workers.

"We will need more expatriates to keep up with the pace of the development from new projects next year," Makki told reporters, without giving figures for foreign workers. "There are not enough nationals to fulfil all the jobs in demand."

According to the latest national economy statistics, there are 852,000 foreign workers in Oman, five times the number of nationals working in the private sector.

Foreign workers make up nearly 30 percent of Oman’s population of 2.9 million people.

Industry analysts said the sultanate depended heavily on foreign labour in the construction sector, where nationals lacked expertise or were not willing to take on jobs.

"We don’t have enough experts in civil engineering to cater for the rising demands," Rashid Alawi, managing partner at Muscat Investments Co said. "Young Omanis also are not willing to work as labourers because they see it as demeaning." Oman has allocated an expenditure of RO7.18bn in 2010, up from RO6.42bn a year earlier.