VN workers eye Oman labour market
VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnamese guest workers will be allowed to work in Oman, a country on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula, according to an Omani government official.
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Muscat is the capital, seat of government and largest city of the Sultanate of Oman. |
Said bin Khalfan Al-Harthy, Adviser of Information Affairs in Oman’s Ministry of Information, said in an interview with Viet Nam News that Oman was a labour market open to skilled guest workers, including those from Viet Nam.
He said Oman was now providing jobs to workers from India, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Thailand.
The majority of foreign workers in Oman are from India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.
“This is a peaceful country where foreign workers can avoid the hotspots in the Arabian Gulf region, including Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Iran,” said Al-Harthy during an interview in Muscat last week.
What can foreign workers earn in Oman? Expatriate workers have to be sponsored by an Omani individual, or by a company registered/sponsored here. A worker cannot just turn up at the airport and then look for a job. The expatriate is paid according to the job he works and the salary varies. For example, at the present time a Malaysian/Indian/Australian Quantity Surveyor is paid between 1,000 and 2,000 Rial (US$5,200) depending upon his/her experience. He is expected to work from 7am to 12.00 when a lunch-break is given, and then again from 12.30 or 13.00 hours to 18.00 hours. Usually there are half-days on Thursdays, and Friday is a day off. However sometimes overtime is required. A return airticket is provided for a leave of one month per year. At the end of a 2-year contract the employer must give the worker a month’s salary, according to the law. Unskilled/semi-experienced labourers on a construction site are paid between 125 Rial ($325) and about 350 Rial ($910) per month. They usually receive one or two month’s leave after completing two years work. This category of worker is given accommodation and provided with all meals. (Source: Omani Ministry of Information) |
Competitive salaries
In Oman, salaries for foreign employees vary depending on the job, but guest labourers enjoy free accommodations and medical care.
“All are guaranteed by the Government,” said Al-Harthy. “The Ministry of Manpower is responsible for defending the rights of foreign workers, regardless of nationality.”
He said a foreign worker’s salary could cover all his expenses, adding that “there was nothing to worry about”.
Al-Harthy said the wages paid to foreign workers were “competitive because without good pay, they will not come”.
According to the Omani Ministry of Information, the minimum monthly salary for an Omani is 170 rial (US$440) while the minimum salary for foreign workers is 75 Oman rial ($195).
With free accommodations and medical care, such a minimum salary would be an attractive offer for Asian workers, including Vietnamese guest labourers.
“Every foreign worker must have a contract, either with the government or with the private sector. The work is based on the wording of the contract,” the ministry said.
The contract should be of two years’ duration, and at the end of the period it can be renewed.
Skilled workers are currently needed, particularly in the construction industry. Other fields are also requireworkers from time to time, depending on supply and demand, the ministry added.
“Omanis are actively being encouraged to work in the private sector, either with a company or by setting up their own businesses. At the present time, foreigners are not required, for example, as drivers or to run small shops, such as grocery stores,” the ministry said.
“In Omani homes, it is generally foreigners who work as housemaids, cooks and gardeners.”
Private sector
To ensure ample employment opportunities for Omani nationals, the local government says that it prefers to hire Omani citizens for jobs in the private sector.
As a result, foreign workers from countries such as India, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Indonesia, Tanzania and Bangladesh work mainly as housemaids, waiters in hotels and restaurants or attendants at petrol stations.
Professionals from Western countries hold jobs that are considered to be of a middle or high social status.
However, according to Omani officials, the government’s localisation of the workforce has not progressed well in recent years.
Oman’s banking, health care and higher education sectors, which formerly hired many foreign workers, are now dominated by Omani nationals.
“Expatriate employees should remain in some sectors, though,” Said bin Khalfan Al-Harthy said.
In late July, Oman introduced new rules to delay the imposed limit on a number of jobs in a bid to provide employment opportunities to nationals of the Arabian Gulf state.
The Omani Ministry of Manpower has begun implementing the restriction by not issuing permits for private sector companies, such as import and export and clothing companies.
“These jobs are reserved for Omanis to give job opportunities to nationals and reduce reliance on foreign labour,” the minister of Manpower, Juma bin Ali bin Juma, was quoted as saying by Reuters.
However, the ban does not apply to banks or oil companies.
According to official statistics, about 25 per cent of Oman’s total population of 2.8 million people are foreign workers.
According to Reuters, the Omani Economy Ministry has allocated 275 million rials ($714.3 million) in the 2008 budget as a grant to the private sector to train nationals.
However, these limitations have appeared to have had little impact on Vietnamese guest workers, as most of them now work in sectors unprohibited by the new law introduced by the Omani Government.
VN workers in the M East
Thousands of Vietnamese guest workers are expected to work in the Middle East, following a tour of the Gulf region made by Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung in December last year.
According to Nguyen Ngoc Quynh, head of the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs’ Department of Overseas Labour Management (DOLM), Viet Nam currently has more than 470,000 guest workers in more than 40 countries and territories collectively, they earn some US$1.7 billion per year
DOLB will focus on major labour markets and develop new markets, such as the Middle-East and Eastern Europe, he said.
“We also put efforts into improving the quality of Vietnamese migrant workers through training courses, as well as coordinating with Western Union to freely publish handbooks which provide necessary information about the destination countries so that Vietnamese migrant workers can be more confident about working abroad,” said Quynh.
He added that in the first nine months of 2008, Viet Nam has sent more than 65,000 workers abroad, a year-on-year increase of 4 per cent. South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, and the Middle-East have received more than 61,000 Vietnamese workers, or 95 per cent of the total.
But so far no Vietnamese worker has ever been sent to Oman.
“They should begin with agreements signed between diplomatic levels, ” said Al-Harthy. “It’s not a very hard nut to crack.”
The establishment of an embassy of Oman in Ha Noi and a Viet Nam embassy in Muscat would help facilitate procedures to bring Vietnamese guest labourers to the Gulf nation, he said.
Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand are the countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that have embassies in Muscat.
According to DOLA’s figures, 85,020 Vietnamese workers were sent to overseas labour markets in 2007. Viet Nam set a target of the same figure for this year, and 100,000 annually by 2010.
The top destinations for local workers are Malaysia, followed by Taiwan, South Korea and Japan.
(Source: VNS)
Update from: http://english.vietnamnet.vn//reports/2008/11/816156/
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