Muscat: Salim Said al Badi, Director General of Labour Welfare in the Ministry of Labour (MoL) stated that about 23,271 citizens have been employed in the first six months of 2022.

In a local interview, Badi mentioned that the ministry aims to provide around 35,000 job opportunities in both the public and private sectors this year.

Out of the 23,271 citizens appointed in H1 2022, 10,454 appointments were in the government sector and 12,817 in the private sector.

Regarding compensation for laid off Omanis in the private sector, Badi said, “The ministry gives priority to those terminated from services in the private sector. We have a department dedicated for this purpose called Department of Follow-up. The Job Security Fund supports those who lose their jobs as well as for jobseekers.”

On a lighter note, he added, “I hope that Omanis who work in the private sector do not rush to submit their resignations.”

In August 2020, His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik issued Royal Decree No 82/2020 approving the Job Security Fund towards which he donated RO 10 million.

Implemented in phases, the fund became operational in November 2020.

According to the Government Communication Centre (GCC), the fund is supervised by the Public Authority for Social Insurance, the Ministry of Labour and the National Employment Centre (NEC). The NEC helps in finding jobs for those whose services have been terminated, while financial aid is distributed among terminated workers until they join new work. However, the funding period does not exceed six months and beneficiaries are given 60 per cent of the salary they received.

The second phase of the funding scheme will be implemented within three years of its initial launch and will benefit jobseekers. ‘The scheme will be funded by both the public and private sectors as every employee will have to contribute RO1 out of every RO100 of his or her monthly salary,’ the statement said.