The study Omani youth attitudes toward work, conducted by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) in February 2019, indicated that 33% of higher education students believe that their educational qualification enables them to compete in the labor market. The percentage increased among working youth to 47%, and 49% for job seekers.
Limited practical training was the main aspect of deficiency of academic qualification as considered by the three youth categories: students of higher education, employed youth and job seekers. For students in higher education, the most important deficiencies in their qualification are limited practical training (47%), lack of practical experience (34.4%) and the curriculum need for improvement (32.3%). Among job seekers, 22.9% considered limited practical training as the main deficiency of their qualification, 21.9% mentioned that their specialization is not required in the labor market, and 20.7% without enough practical experience. As for working youth, the most important deficiencies in their academic qualification are insufficient practical training (22.2%), the need for higher educational level (19.3), and specialization is not required in the labor market (16.3%). The study results also showed that young people continued to prefer to work in the public sector even when salaries in the private sector are higher. For example, 87% of job seekers prefer to work in the government sector. The percentages are slightly lower for employed youth (75%) and students in higher education (76%).
Both job seekers and employed youth agree in their ranking for work sectors. Working in government agencies comes first best for 47% of job seekers and 38% of working youth, followed by working in the civil service sector (32% and 25% respectively). About two-thirds of young jobseekers still prefer the government sector even with a 25% increase in private sector salaries. On the other hand, 42% of higher education students are willing to work in the private sector if the salary is 25% higher than the government sector. As for the determinants of job choice among young people, the study revealed that stability and job security, suitability for social status, good salary and incentives, and good opportunities for promotion are the most important factors that youth seek when considering a new job.
For job seekers, the study showed that the average minimum wage to accept a job in the public sector is 674 Omani riyals and 593 Omani riyals for the private sector. The most common means of searching for jobs are the registration in the Labor Force Registry (96%), follow-up of job advertisements on the internet (88%), help from friends and family (77%), direct applications to employers (70%), Follow-up job advertisements in newspapers (54%), and lastly employment offices (47%). The results also show that a large percentage of young people believe that the state should be responsible for providing a job for each young man. This percentage increases among job seekers to 92% compared with 82% among the employed and 85% among the higher education students.
The results also showed that a large percentage of youth believe that the government should be responsible for providing a job for each individual. This percentage increases among job seekers to 92% compared with 82% among the employed and 85% among the higher education students. There is a rising trend in youth preference to establish private projects. The percentage of students in higher education who are considering setting up private projects has reached 70% (compared to 28% in 2015), and for job seekers is 43% (compared with 46% in 2015). In addition, 11% of the working youth have private projects.