Over half of GCC expats are in Saudi Arabia

Gulf oil producers are expected to seek more foreign labour because of the sustained growth in their economies and lack of skilled national manpower, according to an international organisation.

The Swiss-based International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimated around 15 million expatriates live in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), an increase of nearly 20 per cent over their number in 2005.

“The high growth in foreign labour in the GCC countries is due to several factors including the national demographic structural imbalance, and the steady growth in most sectors of their economies such as services, real estate and trade,” IOM William Lacy Swing told a seminar in the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

“I think these countries will continue to rely on Arab and international labour in the future to ensure their needs of skilled workers and expertise,” he said in comments carried by the London-based Saudi daily Alsharqalawsat.

He gave no breakdown but Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab economy and the world’s top oil exporter, has the largest number of expatriates in the GCC, estimated at around 8.4 million. The UAE has over three million foreigners while the rest are based in Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain.

Asians, mainly from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Philippines account for more than half the expatriate community in the GCC, which controls just over 40 per cent of the world’s recoverable oil wealth and a quarter of the global gas resources.

Foreigners began streaming into the Gulf nearly half a century ago when the discovery of oil kicked off one of the largest infrastructure construction drives in history. The drive has largely receded but regional nations continue to be heavily reliant on expatriates as more experienced and less costly labour.

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