Over 26,000 young business owners in Oman: NCSI

Muscat: The National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) released the ‘Youth and labour market brochure’ in which the total Omani youth (18 to 29 years) amounted to about 549,969 young males and females (20.1 per cent) of the total Omanis in the Sultanate (2,731,456) according to the E-Census of Population, Housing and Establishments 2020 data.

The brochure stated that the total number of employed youth in the Sultanate in the age group (18 to 29) amounted to 178,600 (79 per cent males and 21 per cent females) constituting 24 per cent of the total Omanis working in the Sultanate in 2020.
The brochure further indicated that 50.4 per cent of working youth work in the public sector (79,600) and 49.4 per cent work in the private sector (78,100), while 0.2 per cent work in other sectors.

As for the level of education, the Omani youth working in the public sector (60.8 per cent) of them hold a General Diploma, 13.7 per cent hold a Bachelor’s degree or higher, 7.6 per cent hold a Higher Diploma, and 17.9 per cent do not have a General Diploma.

As for the private sector, the brochure showed that the construction sector attracted the largest number of young Omani workers among other economic activities in the private sector by (23.5 per cent), followed by the wholesale and retail trade sector, and repair of vehicles and motorcycles with 14.5 per cent, the manufacturing sector by 12.8 per cent, and mining and quarrying sector with 9.3 per cent. The financial and insurance activities sector was the least among the sectors.

The brochure also revealed that the number of Omani youth business owners in the age group from 18 to 29 years reached 26,189, (17.7 per cent of the total Omani business owners in the Sultanate), of whom 77.7 per cent males, and 22.3 per cent females.
The data also showed that the largest number of youth business owners is concentrated in Muscat Governorate (4,730), Dhofar Governorate (4,570) and North Al Batinah Governorate (4,415).