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Salalah · Topic file

Can Salalah turn projects into real jobs and real firms?

If the strategy does not eventually show up in jobs, firms and a thicker base of local businesses, it is not really a strategy yet — it is still a slide. For Salalah, the honest read comes down to unemployment rate and establishments.

2.6%

Unemployment rate

Salalah sits 3 of 11 here, and on this table the lower number is the better one.

55,467

Establishments

That puts Salalah at 4 of 11 on the official table.

181,222

Workers in establishments

That puts Salalah at 4 of 11 on the official table.

The numbers

Where Salalah stands today, chart by chart

Unemployment rate

Total unemployment rate by governorate in 2025.

Ranking chart showing unemployment rate across Oman's governorates, with Dhofar highlighted.0%1%3%4%6%Muscat1.4%Al Wusta1.5%Dhofar2.6%Ash Sharqiyah North3.4%Ash Sharqiyah South3.8%Al Buraymi3.9%Al Batinah South3.9%Ad Dakhiliyah4.1%Al Batinah North4.5%Musandam5.3%Adh Dhahirah5.6%Lower values are better on this indicator. Current range: 0% to 6%.

NCSI Statistical Year Book 2026, Table 25-4.

Establishments

Number of establishments by governorate in 2025.

Ranking chart showing establishments across Oman's governorates, with Dhofar highlighted.031,49162,98294,473125,964Muscat125,964Al Batinah South64,231Al Batinah North61,477Dhofar55,467Ad Dakhiliyah31,819Ash Sharqiyah South25,134Ash Sharqiyah North25,103Adh Dhahirah14,306Al Buraymi12,069Al Wusta6,584Musandam3,183

NCSI Statistical Year Book 2026, Table 12-9.

Workers in establishments

Workers attached to governorate establishments in 2025.

Ranking chart showing workers in establishments across Oman's governorates, with Dhofar highlighted.0256,044512,088768,1311,024,175Muscat1,024,175Al Batinah North223,340Al Batinah South220,247Dhofar181,222Ad Dakhiliyah94,738Ash Sharqiyah South72,184Ash Sharqiyah North71,772Adh Dhahirah37,914Al Buraymi33,049Al Wusta26,870Musandam10,137

NCSI Statistical Year Book 2026, Table 12-9.

The trend over time

How Salalah got here

Unemployment rate

How unemployment has moved at the governorate level. The machine-readable open data runs through 2021; the 2024 and 2025 points are pulled from the printed yearbooks.

Time-series chart showing unemployment rate for Dhofar using only official governorate data.1%2%2%3%3%20202021202420252020: 3%2024: 3%2025: 3%Official actual

2020–2021 from the NCSI open-data unemployment layer (by governorate). 2024 and 2025 from Table 25-4 of the Statistical Year Books 2025 and 2026.

NCSI Unemployment Rate open datasetStatistical Year Book 2025, Issue 53Statistical Year Book 2026, Issue 54

Establishments

How many businesses are actually registered in the governorate. A simple way to see whether the local business base is thickening or thinning.

Time-series chart showing establishments for Dhofar using only official governorate data.54,71056,72858,74760,76562,7832023202420252023: 61,7742025: 55,467Official actual

2023 and 2024: Table 12-9, Statistical Year Book 2025 (Issue 53). 2025: Table 12-9, Statistical Year Book 2026 (Issue 54).

Statistical Year Book 2025, Issue 53Statistical Year Book 2026, Issue 54

Reading the charts

What the latest tables are really saying

  • Salalah is showing 2.6% on unemployment rate. Salalah sits 3 of 11 here, and on this table the lower number is the better one.
  • Salalah is showing 55,467 on establishments. That puts Salalah at 4 of 11 on the official table.
  • Salalah is showing 181,222 on workers in establishments. That puts Salalah at 4 of 11 on the official table.
  • The MOHUP strategy frames Dhofar around a balanced economy: Salalah as a gateway city, high-tech activity around the port, free zone and airport, food-security production in the Najd, and a tourism identity anchored in place rather than just seasonality. Without a thicker base of firms and a healthier job market, the rest is just a description on a slide.

Why this file matters

The strategy Salalah is being measured against

The jobs and businesses that show whether the governorate has a working economy, or just a project list.

The MOHUP strategy frames Dhofar around a balanced economy: Salalah as a gateway city, high-tech activity around the port, free zone and airport, food-security production in the Najd, and a tourism identity anchored in place rather than just seasonality.

  • Salalah is intended to operate as a national gateway city with a more coordinated urban hierarchy across the governorate.
  • The official plan ties Dhofar's growth to high-tech industries near the port, airport and free zone as well as to Najd agriculture.
  • Tourism is supposed to strengthen regional distinctiveness, not function as a narrow seasonal spike.

Related topic files

Five more ways into the Dhofar execution map

These linked files cover the other live tests in the same governorate, so the numbers on capital, jobs, services, tourism, utilities, and urban buildout can be read together instead of in isolation.

Dhofar topic file

Capital deployment

How much money is actually being committed, and whether the property market is picking up the signal.

Dhofar topic file

Urban buildout and housing

Population, permits and whether the place is actually being built fast enough for the role it has been handed.

Dhofar topic file

Tourism and place economy

Hotels, occupancy, and whether the place is becoming a real destination or just adding rooms.

Dhofar topic file

Human capability and essential services

Whether schools and hospitals are keeping up — the simplest read on whether people can build a life here.

Dhofar topic file

Infrastructure and utilities

Roads, water and the quiet base layer that usually decides whether any of the rest of it actually works.