Book Description

During the recent Gulf War, the extent of the migrant worker phenomenon in the Middle East was highlighted by the plight of tens of thousands of Asian and North African men and women fleeing from Kuwait and Iraq. The harrowing images and reports spreading across the world from the hastily constructed refugee camps demonstrated the vulnerability of the economic and social position of this floating labour force, whose living conditions are the subject of this wide-ranging study. The authors of Labour Migration to the Middle East have mainly based their work on labour migrants from Sri Lanka, which shows a number of interesting characteristics when compared to other labour-exporting countries. No less than 1.3% of the Sri Lankan population work in the Middle East, of which 70% are women working mainly in the domestic sector. Solid sociological and anthropological research is the basis for a detailed examination of various social, economic and demographic aspects of the processes of labour migration from Sri Lanka to the Gulf States. The book opens with an introduction to the topic of labour migration, and presents the concept of survival migration, which is considered a main characteristic of the Sri Lankan case. The work goes on to describe the recruiting process and the level of fees which migrants have to pay for a job abroad; the policy of the Gulf States with regard to labour migration; the socio-economic conditions of the Sri Lankan migrant workers; the socio-economic position and religious status of Sri Lankan Muslim women migrating to the Gulf; the impact of labour migration on Sri Lankan society--specifically on social stratification, social mobility, household structure, marriage stability and the well-being of children--and conditions which lead to the early return of migrants. Labour Migration to the Middle East makes an important contribution to the scientific and social reflection on the global phenomenon of labour migration.