Migrants in the Gulf see dreams of higher wages ruined

In an article on migrants in the GCC countries in the Deutsche Welle, the impact of drives to wean a reliance on foreign labor in Saudi Arabia is discussed with Dr. Omar Al-Ubaydli, Director of Research who confirmed that there has been, “large-scale worker repatriation” from the Gulf’s most populous country”. He described how Saudi Arabia’s workforce nationalization program, which encourages unemployed Saudi citizens to train for jobs usually undertaken by foreigners, has moved into full gear. “[Saudi] citizens now represent a rapidly growing share of retail jobs, especially in sectors such as telecommunications. In supermarkets, cashier positions are overwhelmingly staffed by citizens now,” said Al-Ubaydli. He predicted that job opportunities for migrants were likely to continue to fall because of the new regulatory hurdles as well as a slowing economy. “This is most likely to be the case for low- and medium-level administrative and technical jobs, as these [positions] are both desirable and feasible to citizens,” he told DW…….