Oman Hiring Eases 17% as Manufacturing and Retail Grow

Hiring in Oman eased 16.6% year-on-year across April and May 2026. The Naukrigulf Hiring Index stood at 1,360 in April before easing to 1,108 in May, against an April–May 2025 average of 1,480. The April reading sat only just below its 2025 counterpart, with the wider gap opening in May.

The headline is accurate, but the decline was strikingly uneven, and the parts that grew are the parts worth knowing about.

Industry and consumer demand carried the market

Manufacturing and Industrial led the entire market, growing 36% year-on-year. Retail, FMCG and Consumer followed at 23%. Oil, Gas and Energy held close to flat at plus 4%, Automotive and Transport at plus 2%, and Healthcare and Pharma was unchanged. In other words, the sectors that make things, move things and sell things were not part of the slowdown.

Sharad Sindhwani, EVP, Business and Product Head at Naukrigulf, summarized it in the report: "Manufacturing and Retail rose, with Oil and Gas and Healthcare staying flat."

Oman kept the roles other markets cut first

At the functional level, Oman diverged from the regional pattern. Sales and Marketing roles grew 1% year-on-year and HR was unchanged, while Operations eased only 3%. Core Engineering, the largest function in Oman by volume, eased 8%, meaningfully better than the headline. In several other Gulf markets these same commercial and people-facing functions were among the first to be trimmed. Here they held.

Why the headline looks worse than it feels

Around 60% of all classified mandates sit in the entry pay band, and that band took the largest decline of any tier. Because it represents so much of the market, it pulls the whole average down. Further up the scale the picture was steadier, and mid-to-senior roles continued to be filled through the period.

The most open market in the Gulf

About 69% of Oman mandates state no nationality preference at all, the highest share of any market in this series. Among those that do state one, Arab-preferred is the largest at roughly 19%, with the South Asian-preferred share notably higher in Oman than across the wider region. Every preference category eased within a narrow band, so the mix is broadly stable rather than shifting.

What it means

For jobseekers: target manufacturing, industrial and consumer-facing employers, where hiring genuinely grew. Commercial and operations roles held up better here than almost anywhere else in the Gulf, so do not assume the regional narrative applies to your search. And with nearly seven in ten roles carrying no preference at all, apply more widely than you think you should.

For employers: Oman is running its own cycle, and a plan built on Gulf-wide assumptions will misallocate effort. Competition stayed real in industrial, consumer and commercial hiring. Volume hiring at the entry band is where the market softened most, which is where you now hold more leverage on process and terms.

Oman's headline eased, but its industrial and consumer base did not. The Index maps the whole picture, sector by sector.

Read the Complete Hiring Index Report → Naukrigulf Oman Hiring Index Report April - May 2026