Mascate under Covid: over 300 thousand unemployed, mostly migrants

The pandemic has impacted heavily on the labor market, which includes just over 2.6 million people. Among those who have lost their jobs, only about 7 thousand are local. An emergency that has affected foreign workers, including Christians, says the Vicar of Arabia. Prospects for future growth. 

Mascate (AsiaNews) - In the last two years, since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in February 2020, in the Sultanate of Oman over 300 thousand people have lost their jobs. The vast majority of them are migrant workers and are unemployed due to economic hardships triggered by the global health emergency, with local authorities seeking to safeguard the local employment force at the expense of foreign workers. 

Economy Minister Said bin Mohammed Al-Saqri. In an interview with Oman TV, spoke of the "enormous impact" of the pandemic, which took the country by surprise. "The huge impact of the pandemic was not expected by anyone in the world, and there is no doubt that the economy was affected, especially the private sector." He added : "We shouldn't measure the performance of the private sector in 2020 and 2021, due to the pandemic conditions, low demand and other reasons that led to the exodus of about 300,000 workers from their jobs. Of them, around 7,500 were Omanis."

The data show once again the enormous impact of Covid-19, at health and economic level, on the migrant population and foreign workforce, in the Sultanate as in many other nations of the Gulf and the Middle East in general. An emergency highlighted in recent days to AsiaNews by the Vicar of Arabia Mgr. Paul Hinder, according to which a substantial slice of foreigners left without a job are Christians also because "the government has launched a policy aimed at encouraging the employment of locals" and for this reason it becomes "essential" to help them find a job. 

The Times of Oman reports that from the beginning of the year until March 16, more than 475 local workers were laid off, mostly in the contracting and construction sectors. Citing data from the National Center for Statistics and Information (Ncsi), Gulf News adds that over 58 thousand expatriates left the sultanate in 2021, although the overall number has been increasing since October last year. For the minister, the outlook is for growth in various sectors, thanks in part to the increase in capital and foreign investment with economic growth forecast at 4% in 2022.

Mascate is experiencing the fastest population growth in 50 years, with a rate of more than 9% per year linked to an increase in the birth rate and a decrease in deaths, thanks also to a strengthening of the health system. In 2020, the labor force was just over 2.6 million according to the World Bank: the figures include locals and migrants aged 15 and over, as well as employed and unemployed. The national economy is largely based on agriculture, fishing and foreign trade. Since the discovery of oil in 1964, revenues from crude oil have accounted for approximately 40% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), although in recent years the government has strengthened the development of non-oil sectors, particularly natural gas. 

• Oman
• vicariate
• migrants
• labor
• economy
• pandemic
• Covid-19