MUSCAT: A total of 8,730 nationals insured with the Public Authority for Social Insurance, have been appointed in the private sector in the first quarter of this year as increased oil prices put the economy on a recovery track, according to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).

Data released by NCSI on Wednesday indicated that the number of insured national employees in the private sector reached 275,500 by March.

Meanwhile, the number of expatriate workforce in the public sector declined to 35,000 from 37,000 by the end of the first quarter. The number of expats employed by the private sector stood at 1.191 million by March-end from the figure of 1.31 million registered at the end of 2021.

The NCSI statistics show that many developments are being witnessed in the labour market as the labour policies of the Sultanate of Oman attach priority to the provision of job opportunities in various economic sectors. The private sector is expected to employ more nationals during the upcoming period given the improvement in economic growth indicators which contributes in generating job opportunities within the objectives of the Tenth Five-Year Development Plan and Oman Vision 2040.

In January, the Ministry of Labour said that it was planning to provide as many as 35,000 jobs in both sectors during the current year. This reflects that the ministry is adopting a clear employment strategy based, in part, on increasing job opportunities in the private sector.

The Ministry of Labour has, over the previous period, made significant efforts to raise Omanisation rates and replace expatriates with nationals in many sectors, including health, education, logistics, tourism and others. Several decisions were also taken to encourage private companies to employ citizens in some professions, such as financial and administrative positions in insurance companies, auditing car agencies, sales, money exchange and business management, among others.