Employment

Forty years ago nearly all Omanis did hard physical work in difficult conditions as a matter of survival in a subsistence economy. In the early 1970s, in an understandable rush to develop, construction companies imported many thousands of Asian labourers. Over the next 25 years such work came to be regarded as menial, and Omanis began employing Asians to do housework and to work on their farms. Of the 956,000 expatriates legally employed in the private sector at the end of 2010, over 400,000 were employed in construction, 93,000 in private households, and 63,000 in agriculture; 73% have no secondary education.

The most common small business model over the last 30 years has involved Omanis, often those with public-sector jobs or pensions, employing cheap Asian labour, not locals. Expatriates are prepared, or sometimes forced, to work long hours for low pay making them more attractive employees. At the end of 2010, 126,000 expatriates were employed in the wholesale and retail trade, and repairing vehicles and household goods, all typical small businesses.

The government has tried to address the problem with "Omanisation" quotas. Those companies with high-level contacts find ways to circumvent the targets or use their influence to acquire additional labour clearances for expatriates. In the white collar sector, expatriates are given no incentives to train their Omani counterparts. Few would actively work themselves out of a job. As a result, many Omanis are not encouraged, properly trained, or given responsibility and therefore quickly become disillusioned, often resulting a vicious circle of lack of achievement.

According to the most recent statistics available, in 2008 the average salary for the 147,000 Omanis then in the private sector was just over OR200 (US$520) per month. Over one-third were paid the minimum monthly wage of OR120, while nearly 87% received less than OR300. Interestingly the statistics for wages for the expatriate workforce are not available, but those doing manual work either for contractors, or on farms and in homes are often paid OR50/month or less.

Employers, both large and small, want to use expatriate labour because it is cheap. The recent 43% increase in the minimum wage for Omanis employed in the private sector is likely to make Omanis even less attractive to employers.