The number of expat workforce in the Sultanate fell by 17 per cent to 1.4 m by the end of October compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. During this period, 277,728 expat workers left the Sultanate.

Expats number decreased by 1 per cent during the September-October period with 14,336 left the country.

Data published by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) indicate that the number of expats in the private sector has reached 1.138 million, a decrease of 17.4 per cent.

Expat numbers at the public sector fell by 22.2 per cent to 42,895 down from the 54,687 registered in the same period of 2019. Expats number in the domestic sector dropped by 13.8 per cent to 253,697.

The NCSI data shows that the majority of expat workforce (more than 602K) are based in Muscat Governorate followed by North Al Batinah (202K), Dhofar (136K), Al Dakhiliay (94.7K), South Al Batinah (93K) and Musandam (10.9K).

Sector-wise, the greatest number of expats work in the construction sector with 378.5K followed by the commercial sector (203.2K), manufacturing sector.

SOURCE: omanobserver