Oman needs to diversify the nationalities of expatriates in the private sector’s senior positions, Majlis Al Shura members said, arguing that failing to do so poses a danger to Omanisation policies.

This was discussed recently during a meeting to discuss Al Shura’s study on “Omanisation challenges in leading and supervisory positions in the private sector”, which aims to attract the local workforce to the private sector.

The Youth Committee of Al Shura Council said that, at present, Omanis working in the private sector in technical, managerial, leading and supervisory jobs make up only 11.5 per cent of total Omanis in the sector.

In the point of view of Omani job seekers, some 76 per cent of higher education degree holders believe that the expatriate workforce “negatively affects” the opportunities for Omanis to obtain jobs.

The study also showed that the Omanisation rate in the country’s public sector has stood at 86.6 per cent.

However, according to the Al Shura Council twitter handle, the capacity for employment in the government sector is limited, as current and future employment trends depend on the private sector due to its continuous growth and expansion.

Omanis with higher education degrees occupy only 10.3 per cent of senior positions in the private sector.

Further, Ministry of Manpower figures recorded only 3,898 Omanis with higher education degrees working in senior positions in the sector at the end of 2015, compared to 21,459 expatriates with the same educational levels.

Nevertheless, Omanis with no degrees or below diploma level make up 29 per cent of the total senior positions of workforces in the country’s private sector.

Members of the committee argued that wages and incentives in junior positions in the private sector are relatively low, compared to government jobs.

Further, it was noted that only 8 per cent of Omani job seekers who hold higher diplomas prefer working in the private sector, according to figures released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).

Also, more than 128,000 expatriates who hold higher education degrees work in Oman’s private sector, according to the Public Authority of Manpower Register.

The Youth Committee, chaired by Mohammed Al Busaidi, has issued a number of recommendations to provide more job opportunities for the local workforce.

The suggestions included having a database on the number and salaries of expatriate workers in the private sector who are in charge of technical, managerial, leading and supervisory jobs.

The committee also suggested granting privileges to companies that Omanise senior positions