• Labour migration
• Migration of skilled workers
  • Migration of skilled workers
  • Health and education sectors

Labour migration and livelihoods

The total stock of Indian emigrants in the Arab region in 2000 was estimated to be about 3.07 million. Of them, about 1 million are reported to be in UAE. The total stock of Kerala emigrants in UAE was about 500,000 in 2001. Current estimates of the annual remittances to Kerala from the Gulf countries for the period 1998-2000 amount to about Rs. 126.40 million.

This paper aims to document changes in the labour demand for different categories of emigrant workers in the UAE. It also looks at the current emigration policies, and examines employment and working conditions, wage levels and related problems of the Kerala emigrants. The paper also looks at the education and training requirements of future emigrants to UAE.

The authors note that changes in the immigration policy of the UAE government, completion of major infrastructure projects and economic recession in the region have reduced substantially the demand for unskilled and semi-skilled labourers in the UAE. Future demand will be for categories of skilled workers, technicians, computer workers, heavy equipment operators, electrical workers and professional categories such as doctors, nurses, engineers, teachers and accountants.

The paper finds that:

• the majority of Kerala emigrants work for more than 8 hours per day; and more than one tenth work for about 10 to 14 hours per day
• major problems faced by emigrants are non-payment of salaries, denial of wages and non-wage benefits stipulated in work contracts, refusal to release passport and non-payment of air-ticket fare for return to Kerala
• nearly one-third of the Kerala emigrants live in worker camps and in the majority of cases, the number of persons per room range from four to six
• 36 percent of the emigrants had a monthly savings of less than 500 Dirhams (US$ 120) and another 37 percent a monthly savings of 500 to 1000 Dirhams (US$ 120-240).

The paper makes several recommendations, which include:

• the State Government should encourage and promote shipping services between Cochin and Gulf countries – offering relief to low-income emigrants in the UAE
• the State Government should encourage competition on routes connecting Kerala to the Gulf countries, bringing existing air fares down considerably
• the airport user fees should be reduced to Rs.100 per adult passenger from domestic as well as international travellers, excluding only infants from the levy
• the State Government should formulate a savings and a pension scheme for emigrants with the help of banks, insurance agencies, or mutual funds, based on contributions from emigrants.

Summary originally provided by GDNet, an Eldis content partner

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