Labour Markets and Labour
Migration in the MENA region
Regional Consultative Meeting on International
Migration in the Arab Region
(in preparation for the UN High-Level Dialogue)
Cairo-EGYPT, 4-5 June 2013
Azfar Khan
Senior Migration Specialist
ILO Regional Office for Arab States
Beirut, Lebanon
khan@ilo.org
Labour migration in the
MENA region
Factors influencing migration:
• Small population base (especially in GCC
countries)
• Low labour force participation of nationals
(especially of women)
• Low literacy and educational levels
• Disinclination of nationals to work in the private
sector
• High degree of non-labour income for nationals
• Growth of the ‘kafala’; an economic activity in
itself
Labour markets in the
MENA region
Nuanced affirmation –
– GCC countries and Libya
– Countries of the Mashriq –(~Morocco?)
– North African countries, Yemen and Syria
Labour markets in the
MENA region
GCC countries and Libya heavily reliant on
migrant workers because of their demographic
profiles and labour market segmentation
Mashriq countries also have a significant
presence of migrant workers
Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Yemen and
Syria are essentially source countries of migrant
workers
Labour markets and
economic growth in the
MENA region – the context
Did the ‘economic crisis’ negatively impact
employment?
Was there a slow-down in economic growth?
What are the determining factors?
The nature of the GCC
economies
Economies not very diverse and rely a lot on
oil revenues
Excessive reliance on migrant workers
High unemployment of nationals
The impact of the ‘economic
crisis’ on the GCC countries
• Not very significant impact
• Revenue stream did not diminish
• Experts linked it to a ‘predicted’ crash in the
oil prices
• Oil prices quite robust
• Employment levels actually went up-demand
for workers actually increased
The nature of Mashreq (Jordan
and Lebanon) economies
• Economic activity driven by high liquidity
• High unemployment and out-migration of
skills
• In-migration of low and semi-skilled
workers from Arab and Asian countries
Determining factors of
future labour migration to
the Mashreq countries
Two paramount questions:
• Can the ‘high liquidity’ situation be sustained?
• For how long will the ‘speculative bubble’
hold?
Employment of nationals
• High unemployment noted all across the
region
• Youth unemployment particularly high
• Drive to nationalise the labour force in
GCC
• Difficulties in doing so
Future prospects of labour
markets in the MENA region
• Migration to the Gulf and Mashriq countries is not
likely to decelerate – skills differentiated
• The demand for domestic workers has not dimmed.
Neither the demand for construction or service sector
workers
• Slow growth and low absorption of labour surplus
will continue to generate migratory pressures