Muscat:
With the employment of 1,708 Omanis, including 1,145 males and 563 females, the industrial sector in Oman has achieved significant growth in Omanisations from January to November end this year, surpassing the set targets for national workforce employment by 5.5%.
Data from the Ministry of Labour, across various specialisations and fields within the industrial sector, show that the national workforce reached approximately 30,993 by the end of November 2024, exceeding the goal of employing 1,000 Omanis this year.
Dr. Ahmed bin Khalfan Al-Badawi, Director of the Industrial Strategy Implementation and Evaluation Department and Head of the Employment File Team at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Investment Promotion, emphasised that the coming period will focus more on localising technical and specialised jobs in the industrial sector.
The ministry aims to enhance vocational specialisations to develop the technical skills of the national workforce, reflecting the ministry’s strategic direction to invest in national talent through 265 initiatives in collaboration with development partners.
In a statement to Oman News Agency, Dr. Al-Badawi highlighted that the Royal endorsement of the Industrial Strategy 2040, which came into effect in mid-2024, has yielded positive results. The strategy includes 265 initiatives, 125 of which are directly linked to the ministry’s sectors, making up about 47% of the total initiatives, while the remaining 140 initiatives are distributed among relevant entities.
The Industrial Strategy Team at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Investment Promotion has begun organising workshops with these entities to introduce them to the details, objectives, and implementation plans of the initiatives. These efforts aim to establish new high-tech industries, foster entrepreneurship and innovation, and develop governance and industrial development management.
Dr. Al-Badawi explained that the ministry focuses on promising sectors such as resource-based industries, which include three industrial clusters distributed across 15 sub-industries, capital-intensive industries with two industrial clusters covering 9 sub-industries, and knowledge-based industries with two industrial clusters covering 5 sub-industries.
These sectors represent important strategic goals for enhancing industrial sector growth. It is worth noting that the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Investment Promotion continues to work through governance committees with relevant entities to ensure that job localisation efforts align with the aspirations of the National Employment Programme via the “Tawteen” platform, achieving employment targets in all economic sectors by utilising educational and vocational outputs and attracting specialised national competencies.
