The Sultanate strives to provide social protection for individuals in a way that ensures a decent life for them and their families through various insurance systems that witness deliberate improvements following the requirements of each stage of the institutional building in the Sultanate, and in a manner that ensures its durability and efficiency.
His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik, issued a Royal Decree No 82/2020 approving the Job Security Fund, the long-awaited system to support the laid off and those who lose their jobs for different reasons.
The system has a two-phase implementation process. The first phase has already started in November 2020, in which the benefits were granted to Omanis whose services have been terminated. HM Sultan Haitham donated RO 10 million to the Fund, whereas from this January, contributions from all Omani workers in both government and the private sectors will be cut as every employee contributes RO 1 out of every 100 riyals of his monthly salary.
Beneficiaries obtain 60 per cent of their salary which has been suspended for one of the reasons referred to and this continues for a maximum of six months, or until another job is found for the employee in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour, according to his qualifications, experiences and available work opportunities.
The second phase, however, will start after three years of establishing the Fund, where a subvention will be paid to the job seekers. The system is supervised by the Public Authority for Social Insurance, the Ministry of Labour, and the National Employment Center. By the end of last November, the total number of beneficiaries of the job security system reached 2901, 84 per cent of whom are male, and 16 per cent of female, according to data published by the Public Authority for Social Insurance.
According to the data, the number of beneficiaries who received a monthly wage of less than RO 300 was about 1,935, while beneficiaries who received a monthly wage between RO 300 to less than RO 500 were 812, those who received a monthly wage between RO 500 to less than RO 700 amounted to 113, besides, 17 beneficiaries received wages between RO 700 to less than RO 900, 15 received wages between RO 900 to less than RO 1,100 riyals, and nine beneficiaries received a wage between RO 1,100 to less than RO 1,800.
The job security system is one of Oman Vision 2040 objectives to achieve decent living for citizens who have stopped working for reasons beyond their control by bridging the transitional gap between the previous job and the opportunity to obtain a new job so that it provides them with a source of income for a temporary period until they get a job in a place that it matches their skills and experiences.
The competent authorities, represented by the Ministry of Labour and PASI have worked to develop practical frameworks that ensure the achievement of goals and contribute to supporting this symbiotic initiative to create an attractive work environment and ensure the availability of job security for workers in various sectors.
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