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• the number of working hours does not exceed 4 per day;
• the wage per hour is not less than OMR3;
• the part-time employee is a job seeker;
• part-time employees aged 16 work only between 6am and 6pm;
• the ratio of part-time workers is not more than ten per cent of the Omanisation ratio.

Qualifying businesses are sale of foodstuff, fuel pumps, hotels, restaurants and coffee shops, electronic and electrical goods, storehouses, vehicle showrooms, agricultural businesses, exchange, children and elderly care, travel and tourism agencies, driving schools, educational and medical services.

In order to satisfy Oman labour law requirements, part-time contracts must specify hours of work, days of work, hourly rate of pay and payment intervals of a week unless the employee agrees to a two-week or monthly basis. Either party may terminate the contract upon 3 days notice in writing. The employer is obliged to provide the ministry of manpower with names and designations of all part-time employees.

This decision is the latest in a raft of government measures in 2013 aimed at increasing the number of Omanis entering the private sector after statistics reveal a scant 1.7% rise in the period 2010 to 2013. Measures include the introduction in January of an annual minimum three per cent pay rise and an increase in the minimum wage by over 60 percent from RO 200 to RO 325 effective July 1, a move the government estimates will benefit around 122,000 out of the 172,000 Omanis working in the private sector.
The government also approved a move to cap the expatriate population in Oman at 33% of the total after statistics reveal a leap of 106% to 44% of the total population during the period 2010-2013. In an initial step, the Ministry of Manpower temporarily suspended under article 19 (4) of the labour law the issue of visas to expatriates working in the construction and cleaning sectors for a period of six months from November 1 until May 2014. Companies rated as ‘excellent’, international companies, companies carrying out government projects and consultancy firms are excluded from the ban.

Meanwhile, the authorities are striving to encourage the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by ensuring that loans are easier to secure. The Central Bank of Oman has mandated all all banks operating in the Sultanate to lend a minimum 5% of their credit portfolios to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by December 31, 2014.