UAE - young workers

• overview of UAE migrant flow

  2013 - UAE had 5th largest migrant stock globally at 7.8 million out of total population of 9.2 million

  90% of workers in UAE are international migrants

  key migrant groups = ASIAN arriving on 2 year contracts, live in labour camps and are poorly educated but physically fit males

  tertiary and professional workers = european and fillipino

  europeans focus on professional jobs, filipino tend to work in hospitality

  remittances from Filipino workers = $1.2 billion
• emiratisation 


  initiative by UAE government to promote local emirati labour to reduce dependency on foreign labour
• UAE pull factors


  better job opportunities and easier to be employed

  rapidly developing due to oil discovery

  relatively safe country

  better availability and quality of resources and services

  many migrants can still practice main religion
• push factors of source countries of UAE migrants

  little jobs or low paid primary jobs meaning people are unable to support families

  conflict in pakistan and afghanistan

  overcrowding and overpopulation mean lack of housing, jobs, healthcare etc

  India has 2nd largest population but lacks infrastructure to support it
• UAE - economic migrant pros


  fill gaps in manual and professional labour job markets

  promotes economic growth

  improved relationships with origin countries

  increase in consumer market from 500k to 7million

  attraction of international events such as F1

  large numbers of manual workers to complete construction projects

  emirati workers learn new skills from foreign migrant workers
• UAE - economic migrant cons

  high dependency on foreign labour

  migrant pay leaving country via remittances

  infrastructure is insufficient to support rapid growth - congestion, sewage dumped in desert, water and electricity shortage

  increase in inflation due to increased demand

  increase in crime rates