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By Ayedh Al-Turaisi
Authorities in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have warned that the large number of expatriate workers in the region are causing imbalances in the demographic structures of member states and as a result, they have called for measures to be taken to rectify the issue.
Gulf countries have failed to keep the number of recruited expatriate workers limited to a certain percentage of the population even though Gulf labor ministers agreed that the percentage of expatriate workers in any member state should not exceed 20 percent. Statistical reports have shown that the United Arab Emirates and Qatar account for the largest number of expatriate workers in the Gulf region with 89 percent in both, followed by Kuwait at 69 percent, Bahrain at 52 percent, Oman at 46 percent and Saudi Arabia at 33 percent.
The presence of such a large number of expatriates can contribute to negative economic practices such as the control of expatriates over certain markets and sectors, which can increase unemployment among citizens and lead to more money being remitted by expatriate workers to their home countries. Also, health facilities and educational institutions are often strained as they are unable to deal with the large number of people availing their services.
Moreover, international labor organizations will exercise additional pressure on Gulf countries and accuse them of labor rights violations and discrimination against workers and may even call on Gulf countries to naturalize certain nationalities. These are great challenges that may give such organizations opportunities to interfere in the cultural and demographic issues of Gulf countries.
Solutions
Economists have called for introducing vocational training in schools to better train nationals so they can be more competitive with expatriates in the job market. Economist Abdullah Al-Assaf, agreed that the large number of expatriate workers is causing demographic imbalances, many of whom pose “dangers”.
“Gulf countries do have an enormous number of expatriate workers. We should all work together to ensure that each country has a demographic balance and reduce expatriates to a limited number. There are around 20 million expatriate workers in all Gulf countries. Some of them pose dangers,” he said while adding that the majority of expatriate workers are hard-working, loyal, honest and dedicated to their jobs. However, the few bad ones can have an influence on others.
“Expatriates can also strain state budgets. After all, total remittances of expatriates have exceeded SR300 billion per annum in all Gulf countries,” Al-Assaf added.
In 2016, expatriate workers’ remittances in Saudi Arabia reached SR152 billion, making the Kingdom the second largest country for remittances in the Gulf. Expatriates also control 80 percent of jobs in the private sector in the Kingdom; this percentage is higher in Qatar and the UAE.
According to economist Abdullah Al-Barrack, there is a dire need for changing the way Gulf youth view blue collar jobs.
“So much stigma is attached to these jobs and this viewpoint should be changed. Incorporating vocational training and education in school curricula is the only solution to changing the public’s views of these jobs,” he said.
