Globalisation and Labour Migration in the GCC: Comparative Analysis from South and Central Asian Countries
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61841/48ea0181Keywords:
labor migration, informal regulation tools, diaspora, ethnic economy, adaptation and integration of migrants., globalization, world-system of economic globalism, global neo-convergence of the developed and developing socioeconomic systems, global forecasting, global neoindustrialization, Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC)Abstract
This paper examines the pattern of labour migration in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states from 1990 to 2020, with a particular focus on flows originating from South and Central Asian countries. There is a contradiction in labour migration in the GCC states, where South Asian countries have a large number of labour migrants. But labour migration from Central Asian countries to the GCC remains very low due to the structural constraints. As migrant labourers are an integral component of the economic growth story of GCC countries, the push and pull factors for labour migration in the region differ between South and Central Asian countries in several ways. Historically, the oil-driven economic boom of the 1970s paved the way for the economic prosperity of Gulf countries, leading to large-scale infrastructure development and an overall rise in citizens' living standards. To sustain uninterrupted development at home, Gulf countries began seeking cost-effective workers, both skilled and unskilled, across all economic sectors, including energy, construction, manufacturing, and services. This has led to large-scale migration to the region from all parts of the world, including South Asian countries, particularly in unskilled and semi-skilled jobs. However, Labour migration from Central Asian countries remains limited to the Gulf countries. Currently, various Gulf countries are implementing economic diversification projects beyond hydrocarbons to develop other sectors of the economy. Such initiatives to diversify the economy and develop robust secondary and tertiary sectors have significantly increased demand for skilled workers in technology-oriented sectors. The ongoing diversification process also aims to improve the conditions of expatriate workers by reforming the existing Kafala system and labour laws. Furthermore, given the existing heterogeneity of the migrant workforce in the region, the GCC countries have the potential to attract migrant labour from Central Asia amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, which is reducing labour migration from Central Asia to Russia.
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