Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Oddly, for the visitor, it is not always Arabs you'll notice much anyway. The indigen-
ous population of the entire Peninsula numbers less than 50 million out of a total popula-
tion of 78 million. In Saudi and Oman non-nationals account for 10% and 15% respect-
ively of the population but this figure rises to 25% in Yemen, 55% in Bahrain, 66% in
Kuwait, 80% in Qatar and 81% in UAE.
EXPAT PECKING ORDER
Though officially treated equally, there's clearly a pecking order among the Peninsula's expats. At the top of the
order are the Westerners. For the hundreds of thousands of Western expats, life is a tax-free merry-go-round, usu-
ally with rent and annual airfare home included in generous packages. The life, at least in the big Gulf cities, in-
cludes sun, sea, sand and a good social life in a lifestyle few could afford back home.
Next come the middle-income workers from other Middle Eastern countries. Their first and foremost preoccu-
pation is to save money. Typically these expats stay just long enough to stockpile enough dollars to build a house
back home and send their children to college. In some countries, such as Egypt, Jordan and Yemen, remittances
from nationals working abroad constitute the backbone of the economy.
Languishing at the bottom are the labourers from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. While a minority (around
5% to 10%) enjoy a standard of living similar to the Western and Peninsula communities, the majority are manual
labourers. Conditions for migrant workers in the Gulf states have been condemned by Human Rights organisa-
tions such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. For male migrant workers, conditions include dig-
ging roads in 45°C heat or working on building sites that lack safety provisions. Women employed as domestic
servants are often required to work long hours for wages much lower than those paid to nationals of the Gulf
states. Despite these conditions, a single labourer may be able to support his entire extended family in his home
country from his monthly pay packet. Some Asians remain on the Peninsula for up to 20 years, only seeing their
families for two months once every two years. Recognising the problem of hardship among many members of the
Asian expat community, GCC labour ministers are due to meet in 2013 to discuss a standardised employment
contract designed to protect migrant workers' rights.
The large presence of other nationals on the Peninsula came about after the discovery of
oil. Hundreds of thousands of expatriate workers were brought in to help develop the re-
gion's industries, and provide skills and knowledge in creating a modern infrastructure.
Although none of these nationals were originally permitted citizenship, many have stayed
a lifetime and set up businesses under local sponsorship, changing the demographics of
the entire Peninsula.
The issue now is how to reduce the dependence on expat labour and train the local pop-
ulation to fill their place: inevitably, few expats willingly train locals to take over their
jobs. Equally, in some of the wealthier Gulf countries, there is a reluctance from locals to
take on manual labour and a distaste for jobs in the service industry.
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