MUSCAT: Unemployment rate in Oman decreased to 5-6 per cent in 2007 from nearly 20 per cent five years ago, a top government official said yesterday.

Vigorous policies and procedures pursued by the Ministry of Manpower, under the wise leadership of His Majesty the Sultan, to cut down the rate of unemployment by increasing Omanisation percentage and upgrading training levels has paid results, Dr Younis bin Khalfan Al Akhzami, director-general of planning and development, Ministry of Manpower, told Times of Oman.

Dr Younis was speaking on the sidelines of a seminar on National Manpower Register which began yesterday at the Oman Tourism College under the auspices of Sayyid Khalid bin Hilal bin Saud Al Busaidi, secretary-general of the Council of Ministers.

The two-day seminar is highlighting the role of the National Manpower Register in serving the human development plans and regularising the job market. Dr Juma bin Ali bin Juma, minister of manpower, and several other ministers, undersecretaries and dignitaries were present at the inaugural session. The seminar will include a number of working papers and workshops and will suggest recommendations and issue a final communiqué on manpower registration.

Speaking about the manpower register, Dr Younis said the National Manpower Registry has been established under Royal Decree No. 88/2001 and since then the Ministry of Manpower has been working hard with the cooperation of other ministries, especially the Ministry of Civil Services, to establish a solid and completed database system concerning Omanis employed in both the public and private sectors.

“Since then we have progressed well in that direction but we need more cooperation from all the ministries to complete the database. We also need to include some of the private sector activities that include agriculture, fisheries which employ a lot of Omanis,” Dr Younis said. This data has to be used by other ministries as a focal point to employ Omanis in their ministries. The register is an indicator and reference as it includes names, level of studies, any experience of the candidates and has any kind of information that will help in employing the Omanis.

Speaking about challenges in employment of Omanis, Younis pointed out that rate of unemployment varies as the Ministry of Manpower believes that the people employed in the agriculture and the fisheries sector and other sectors are not taken into account as there is no record of them yet. “Around five years ago, young Omanis were searching for jobs and they were not getting any, but now we are looking for skilled Omanis to fill up certain jobs in certain sectors and there is a shortage because most of them are already employed,” Dr Younis stated. “There is also a problem of skilled Omanis as locals have to be trained before they are employed in any sector,” he said. “Our ministry is seeking people who can be employed in some of the sectors like the construction sector but we don’t have enough skilled Omanis,” he added.