Wednesday, May 21

Oman Population- Playing up on numbers

In 2014, the estimated population of Oman is 4,013,391.

Let's paint a clearer picture...
"The estimated 2014 population of 4,013,391 is a sharp increase over the 2010 census of 2.77 million. Nearly 50% of the population lives in Muscat and the Batinah coastal plain northwest of Muscat, while 200,000 live in the southern region. There are about 30,000 people in the remote Musandam Peninsula."

And a little more specific "The largest city and capital is Muscat, with a population of around 800,000."

Let' Break it down even further with how the pie is actually cut "Many Omani are from Baluchistan and the Swahili coast, and there are about 600,000 foreigners, mostly guest workers from Egypt, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and the Philippines."  

What does all this breaks down to? Foreigners presently make up about 39 percent of the Omani population of about 3.3 million, but they account for nearly 90 percent of all workers in the private sector, according to figures announced by the Manpower Ministry.

And the verdict is out..
"Oman has announced it intends to cut its expatriate population by 6 percentage points, or 200,000 people."

What does this spell out to you? thought? Would want to see the prospective from an Economist (Other Oman?)

Ministry of Manpower Source
National Center for Statistics & Information Source2

ايش اللقطه
Facebook || Instagram @aishelaqtta|| Twitter

12 comments:

  1. Please try to post after ateast one reading. The numbers you are quoting is not coherent. in one place you are saying total is 4 million in another place it is 3.3 million. and 39% of 4 million is 1.56 million according to the maths I have learned

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Title reflect what the post is saying.

      As for total population its had been stated as an estimate.

      Delete
    2. My question is about the two numbers in your post. Either you say 3.3 or 4 after verifying. Sorry to say it but Times of Oman stories convey the message better. I read your posts regularly and would like it to get better.

      Delete
    3. As stated before there is a play on numbers in that the resources found online are quoting different numbers thus the point of the post.

      Delete
  2. The source I read the numbers from was saying there's 58% Omanis and the rest are the expats which give us the number of around 1.6 million of the foreigners.The only Indians itself is more than 600 000 so the blogger numbers seems to be wrong.Read more here:http://muscatinoman.wordpress.com/2014/04/24/omani-population-reaches-4-millions/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your observation as stated before there is a play on numbers in that the resources found online are quoting different nmbers thus the confusion and the point of the post.

      Delete
  3. Hi Dalz, Is there any way you can post a direct link to the data and / or news articles you are referencing here? The links provided take me to the main page for each ministry, and not to the reports you are citing.

    I don't think anyone would disagree that the number of expats working in Oman is unsustainable, and bad for the country.

    At first glance, Omanising and /or eliminating positions 200,000 expat jobs over the next couple of years is entirely possible. I think the key here is that the government needs to be sure to not to use a sledgehammer for a job that should be performed with a scalpel. So I would be very interested to hear HOW and WHERE these expats will be eliminated. Because its the how and the where that will make the difference in how beneficial this action is to Oman.

    I would suggest starting by eliminating expats at the gas pumps. Everybody is capable of pumping their own gas, and the few Omani guys who do pump gas do it well. Likewise, baggers at the grocery stores should either be Omani, or people can bag their own groceries, or the checkers can help with the bagging. There are a thousand more examples of expat jobs that could be eliminated without needing to worry about having Omani staff willing or able to replace them. "automatic"car washes, The guy who stands in the middle of traffic waving a red flag, Tea boys and coffee ladies, Car park car washing services, guys who run from the store to your car when you honk, get your stuff, and bring it back out, etc, etc, etc... These are all things that we can and should be doing for ourselves, and would go a long way towards reducing the numbers of Expats here.

    But, contrary to what the braying masses of expats would have you believe, this shouldn't be, and isn't about them, or making them go home. The focus should mostly be on creating Jobs for Omanis... and girl, I am at a total loss there. Skilled trade schools would go a long way, particularly if they turned ut genuinely skilled tradesmen. I would certainly pay a premium for an electrician who actually knows what he is doing, or a skilled appliance repairman.

    I'll blog about this later next week, but I have a little reading and thinking to do in the interim.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree with your suggestions, but what you mentioned had already been part of the agenda for Omanisation and as you can see its not going anywhere fast!

      I hear ya :) looking forward to read your post

      Will share source, just drop me an email (though one of them was in arabic)

      Delete
  4. I think this article will give you better insight into doing what is right for Oman.

    http://www.timesofoman.com/News/34178/Article-%E2%80%98Banning-expats-is-risky-for-Omans-economy%E2%80%99

    I'm an expat but I do strongly agree that locals should make up the larger percentage in the labour force. As suburban suggested, all the menial jobs are handled by South Asian or Filipino expats. Car washers, petrol station workers, baggers, coffee shop worker are pointed out. I also believe road cleaners, garbage pickers and most importantly, maids make up the majority. Why not replace all these expats working in unskilled jobs with Omanis? There should not be dignity of labour when it is for your own country and this requires an attitude change.

    As for the private sector, as the article points out, govt. as well as the private firm should work together towards creating training programs for specialized skills for Omanis. However, again, this will require a lot of change where attitude is concerned for Omani workers to be willing to have healthy dedication and work the long hours. Omanis and expats should be subjected to equal treatment at the workplace and no lenience should be extended for either for lack of punctuality or laziness. There should be a fair hiring and firing system in place so that nobody takes their jobs for granted (expats have dire consequences) and be content with sitting at a desk surfing the web and making personal phone calls (personal experience).

    I love Oman and the locals are some of the nicest people in the world. We all want to see Oman grow and prosper!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Appreciate you love for Oman

      On what you are saying, there was a point in time in history that Omanis were actually part of all the jobs you mentioned, but due to "dignity of labor" the prospective has changed, more so with the younger generation.

      Seems that I am hearing a lot that the key factor is attitude from you and other comments received.
      .

      Delete
  5. Suburban: Exactly! Or a plumber:(

    I'd pay 500 OMR if I never had to ask another expat dude who knows less about toilets and pipes than me (and I am a fashion girl, not a fix-it-myself girl) to come over (and show up late) and over and over again for the same problem. I serriously, serriously would.

    Also, the dude who fixes my washing machine is highly suspect....

    Skilled people are awesome.

    It is just that law they made, it doesn't do this.... it doesn't get rid of the expat jobs that Omanis truly truly need.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Is there a labout union specific from Omani in these sort of job (no idea)

      Delete

Thank you for taking the time to comment on Aishelaqtta