Introduction
The concept of immigration is as old as mankind. People have been emigrating from one place to another for different reasons, and the trend will still continue in the future. As expected, migration affects various aspects of population – and this is true for both the immigrant’s country of origin, and the new country. In the last few decades, these changes have been more profound in the GCC countries, which have seen an unprecedented influx of foreign nationals. The GCC simply means the Gulf Cooperation Council and it brings together six wealthy nations bordering the Persian Gulf. These countries are: United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain. The six nations share similar cultures, religions, political and economic structures.
Although economists, geographers, social anthropologists, and other social scientists have tried to some up with a unifying tool for analyzing the emergence and perpetuation of international migration, there is no single theory which explains the reasons behind the trend. Therefore, the best way is to look into the issue using a multi-disciplinary approach. Nonetheless, there are a few theories which are worth a mention in this research paper because they come close to explaining the immigration and population trends in the United Arab Emirates and the GCC countries as a whole.
The neoclassical theory, for instance, gives an explanation on the geographic differences in the supply and demand of labor. The theory explains that countries with a large labour relative to capital have low wages and labour surplus, while countries with large capital relative to labour endowment have high wages and are labour scarce. The wage differential arising from such scenarios then drive workers from low-wage (labour surplus) countries into high-wage (labour scarce) countries. This functional explanation has been the basis of international migration, and many countries align their labour polices along these lines. On the micro level, individuals are attracted to the labour-scarce-high-wage countries due to the cost-benefits and the expected monetary gains.
Justification of Migration in the UAE and the GCC Countries
The resolution by the Iran and the Iraq governments to end their disputes in the 1973 and work together was a game changer. The reconciliation meant that the oil-rich countries of the Arab world could now form a cartel and drive the price of oil upwards. The result was an artificial oil shortage which in turn led to the quadrupling of the oil prices in a span of one year. What followed was a massive capital accumulation by the GCC countries, and this facilitated extensive growth in investment thus triggering shortage of labour. The massive economic development led the countries to start large scale recruitment of labourers. Initially the labor immigrants came from other Arab States such as Egypt, Yemen, Jordan and Sudan, and they would be absorbed into the construction industry which was expanding exponentially at that period.
However, the demand for labour was still huge such that the immigrant migration could not fill in the demand. The period between 1976-1979 saw the rise of non-Arab workers and this were people coming in from India and Pakistan. The period 1980-1984 saw the increase in the source of labour, and people from countries such as China, Singapore and Turkey were now coming in to fill some of the labour positions. The move to diversify sources of labour arose from the fact that there was need to reduce the dependence on labour from the politically unstable Arab countries. By recruiting contract workers from diverse cultural and religion backgrounds, the countries would also minimize the need for permanent settlement. By this period, most of the jobs were coming from the construction industry and the service industry. However, the period 1985-1990 saw a slowdown in the number of expatriates primarily due to the reduced oil revenues and the growing concern that the immigration laws needed to be stabilized.
The Gulf countries needed foreign labour in order to grow and the numbers coming up in the 1980s prove this. For example, in the 1980s, a total of 5.2 million workers were working in the Gulf States. United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait were leading the pack of the foreign labour dependent countries with over 90 % of the workforce in each of the countries being foreign.
In the recent years, there has been an influx of foreign immigrants from the Asian countries, and this is driven by the demand for domestic workers from areas such as Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Philippines. There has been a school of thought which argues that the influx of Asian immigrants is because the Asian immigrants do not have political ideologies which threaten the monarchies of the Gulf States, and also because they make fewer demands compared to their counterparts from the Arab countries. Another reason which has seen the influx of Asian immigrants is because the cost of hiring Asians is below that of hiring Arabs. Above all, it is politically smoother to expel Asians as compared to expelling immigrants from the Arab countries.
Population Trends in the UAE
In 1980, the population size of the UAE was estimated to be approximately 1.0 million. The population increased exponentially in the last few years, and was 7.5 million by 2010. If the current trends are maintained, the population will hit 12.2 million in 2050. For the period 1980-1985, the country’s population growth rate was estimated to be 5.67, compared to a population growth rate of 5.12 in the period 1995-2000. For the period 2000-2005, the population growth rate increased slightly to 5.88 %, and the jumped to 12.26 % for the period 2005-2010.
Currently, the country’s life expectancy is estimated to be 75.9 years, and this marks an increase of 6.7 years since life expectancy was estimated to be 69.2 years in the 1980s. Infant mortality rate currently stands at 6.9 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, and this is a reduction from 24.6 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in the 1980s. The country’s fertility rate now stands at 1.86 children per woman, and this is a significant drop from 5.23 children per woman in the 80s. Most of the people (82.3 % of the total population) live in urban areas, and this is a slight increase compared to 80.7 % of the population which lived in the urban areas by 1980. International immigrants (3,293,264) account for more than 70 % of the country’s population, with most of them being men.
Figure 1: Population Pyramid in the UAE
A look at the country’s age composition reveals that the proportion of the people in the working age-group (15-64) has been increasing steadily from the year 1990 to account for 82.5 % of the total population, while the proportion under the age of 15 years has been declining steadily. The unbalanced age-sex structure is attributed to immigration whereby more men are coming to the country to provide labour, compared to the number of female jobs that are on offer. It is only in the recent past whereby the services of women have been required – especially for domestic workers.
Analysis
The UAE, as well as the rest of the GCC countries, has something unique with regards to population composition and migration. This is because unlike many other countries in the world, the natives are minorities in their own countries. In the UAE, for instance, the nationals constitute not more than 8% of the population, and this is the trend in the rest of the GCC countries. It is only in Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia that the nationals make up lose to 60 % of the total population. The influx of foreign nationals has been attributed to the oil boom which began in the 1970s. The oil prices have been on the increase in the last decade, and this has triggered an increase in the number of foreign nationals coming to the GCC thus bringing back the memories of the 1970s. Most of the foreign nationals are absorbed in the construction industry.
As it is evident from the population pyramid (see Figure 1), the number of males is far much greater than the number of females and this is attributed to high need for semi and unskilled men in the construction sector. In the recent past, most of the labour immigrants are coming from the non-Arab countries, and these are people who are not coming to stay. They are only here to work and leave. Therefore, they leave their families behind, and since most of them are men, this explains the sex composition of the non-national population. The non-national population is also skewed in favor of people in the working age group, and again this is something which explains the skewed age composition in favor of people in the working age racket (15-64). Foreign participation is something which is expected to go on in the GCC countries, as long as their economies remain stable.
Population/Migration Issues
The working conditions in the UAE varies a lot and this depends on the position of the employee, the place of employment, and nationality. Conflicts between employers and workers have often be reported, with issues such as unfair dismissal, nonpayment of overtime and refusal of sick leave topping the list. Cases of wage discrimination have been institutionalized in the UAE, and other issues such as harassment, rape, and poor housing have also been raised.
Despite the high presence of foreign immigrants in the workforce, unemployment is one of the problems bedeviling the GCC countries and national still face some difficulties in searching for jobs. The problem has been on the rise in Saudi Arabia, Omani, and Bahrain. For example, the unemployment levels in Saudi Arabia are estimated to be 20 %, while in Omani and Bahrain the unemployment levels are estimated to be 15 %. The problem stems from the fact that some education programs are producing more graduates than the job markets can absorb. Another contributing factor is that new jobs are created within the private sector, and the private sector can get people with the right skills but low wages from the expatriates. For example, in Bahrain, for the 80 % of the jobs created by the private sector, most of them have a pay of less than $ 500 per month.
On another level, while the Arab regional treaties look good on paper, it is still hard to implement them because the nationals have to be considered before citizens from other GCC countries could be considered as well. Another issue which arises is the irregular migration status of some of the people who come to work in these countries. Since some of the people are uneducated and their family members are dependent on them for income, they decide to stay “illegally” because the punishment is low. However, they have to work for low pay since their contractual terms have already expired. These informal practices are quite rampant, and they appear to be institutionalized.
Solutions
In order to cope with the challenges of globalization, UAE, and other GCC countries need to improve their labour laws especially with regards to the right to establish labour unions. The labour laws need to be improved such that the bargaining power of the employees is enhanced. The sponsorship system also needs to be abolished, because it negates the spirit of International labour laws. The regulation of the labour force also needs a shake up, if the GCC countries are to remain competitive in the long run.
The labour market in the UAE is largely segmented, with the nationals working in the public sector while the foreign immigrants work in the private sector. The fact that the private sector is not regulated makes it unattractive to the nationals - save for a few top positions. This means that the labour laws have to regulated such that they not only benefit the foreign immigrants, but also the local nationals as well. UAE also needs to ratify UN conventions which protect the rights of immigrant workers and their families.
Bibliography
Al-Najjar, B. (2006). Labour Migration to the GCC Countries . Retrieved May 30, 2013, from
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CDUQ
jAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.un.org%2Fesa%2Fpopulation%2Fmigration%2Fturin%2FTurin_Statements%2FALNAJJAR.pdf&ei=9EunUbbuHaOv7Abn64C4Dw&usg=AFQjCNHp5z1XLve4vp54UsxXYGmpv6mUiw&sig2=rm0lqFX
Anderson, E. W. (2000). The Middle East: Geography and Geopolitics. London : Routledge.
Blair, L., & Shariff, A. A. (2012). Population Structure and the Burden of Disease in the United Arab Emirates. Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health , 2 (2), 61-71.
Etheredge, L. (2011). Persian Gulf States: Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and the United Arab
Emirates. New York, NY: The Rosen Publishing Group.
Federal Research Division. (2004). United Arab Emirates: A Country Study. Whitefish, MN:
Kessinger Publishing.
Gibson, J., Thomsen, J., Launay, F., Harder, E., & DeFelice, N. (2013). Deaths and Medical
Visits Attributable to Environmental Pollution in the United Arab Emirates . Plos One , 8(3): e57536. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0057536.
International Organization for Migration. (2010). Intra-regional Labour Mobility in the Arab
World. Cairo: IOM Cairo.
Rahman, M. (2013). Migrant Indebtedness: Bangladeshis in the GCC Countries. International
Migration , doi: 10.1111/imig.12084.
Suter, B. (2005). Labour Migration in the United Arab Emirates: Field Study on Regular and
Irregular Migration in Dubai . Retrieved May 30, 2013, from
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CDYQ
jAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdspace.mah.se%2Fbitstream%2F2043%2F3161%2F1%2FLabour%2520Migration%2520in%2520the%2520United%2520Arab%2520Emirates%2520-%2520A%2520Field%2520Study%2520on%2520Reg
United Nations . (2003). Levels And Trends of International Migration to Selected Countries in
Asia. New York: United Nations Publications.
