MUSCAT – According to the 2024 data from the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), of the 740,877 citizens covered by insurance in 2024, 392,011 were employed in the government sector, while 348,866 worked in the private sector.

Nearly 40 percent of private sector employees (138,632 individuals) earn between RO 325 and RO 400 per month, while only 5,077 government employees fall within the same salary range — just 1.3 percent of the total in the public sector.

Similar trends are evident in other brackets. In the RO 400 to 500 category, 47,713 Omanis are employed in the private sector, in comparison to 11,047 government employees; the RO 500 to 600 salary bracket has 40,387 in the private sector, while 30,090 are in the government sector. This totals to over 65 percent of Omanis in the private sector who earn less than RO 600, compared to fewer than 12 percent in the government sector.

This difference narrows at the higher end of the wage spectrum, with the RO 2,000 to 2,500 range showing more Omanis (7,797) in the private sector than the government (4,987). Among those earning salaries of RO 2,500 and above, 16,172 are in private employment, compared to 5,689 in the public sector.
The data also highlights a gender imbalance in employment. Of the total insured Omani workforce, 525,206 are men and 215,671 are women, with male workers dominating every income bracket — especially the higher salaries.

In terms of sectoral distribution, construction leads as the largest private employer of Omanis with 76,573 workers, followed by 57,627 in the manufacturing, 56,543 in the wholesale, retail trade and vehicle repair sector, 47,929 in agriculture and fisheries, and 47,428 in transport and storage.
The construction sector also tops the list among expatriate workers with 439,924 employees, followed by wholesale and retail trade (277,247), domestic workers (272,542), manufacturing (183,134) and administrative and support services (134,275).