Labour migration

The Arab States region is one of the main destination regions globally for migrant workers, and the numbers have increased substantially in recent years. The proportion of migrant to local workers is the highest in the world. Many of these migrant workers are low-income and low-skilled workers, in sectors such as construction, hospitality, and domestic work. Migrant workers contribute substantially to the development of their destination countries and send vital remittances to their families and communities, but many of them face a number of decent work challenges. The ILO and its constituents are working to address these challenges in accordance with International Labour Standards, the ILO’s Fair Migration Agenda, adopted in 2014, and the Resolution and Conclusions concerning fair and effective labour migration governance, adopted by the International Labour Conference in June 2017.

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The number of migrant workers in 12 Arab States*

amounted to 24.1 million persons in 2019, representing 14 per cent of all migrant workers worldwide (1).

Close to 83 per cent of all migrant workers

workers in the Arab States are men. Women constitute only 17 per cent of the region’s migrant worker population, compared to a global average of 41 per cent (ILO 2021) (2).

41.4 million international migrants and refugees

were hosted by Arab Countries** in 2020, who made up around 15 per cent of all migrants and refugees worldwide (3).

* Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Syrian Arab Republic, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

** Namely, the 22 Member States of the League of Arab States

Sources

(1) ILO Global Estimates on International Migrant Workers (ILO 2021). Importantly, the region has the highest global share of migrant workers as a proportion of the total workforce, reaching 41.4 per cent in 2019 compared to the global average of just 5 per cent. This means that nearly half of all workers are migrant workers, which is due to a number of factors, including the very high labour force participation rates of migrants compared to nationals, especially women (ILO 2021).

(2) The relatively low proportion of women migrant workers compared to other regions of the world can be attributed to the fact that most women migrants are employed in the domestic work sector.

(3) 2020 edition of the International Migrant Stock database of the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA). Specifically, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) subregion hosted almost three-quarters of all migrants and refugees in the Arab States region, most of them migrant workers (UNDESA 2020).

In implementing the Fair Migration Agenda in the region, the ILO works with its constituents to improve the governance of labour migration and address decent work deficits of migrant workers. This is achieved through:

Adherence of national legislative and regulatory frameworks to the ILO fundamental Conventions and other relevant International Labour Standards, and by ensuring that labour law protection for migrant workers is comprehensive and includes domestic workers;

Supporting labour migration governance reforms, including reforms to dismantle the Kafala (sponsorship) system and enhance internal labour market mobility for migrant workers;

Promoting fair and ethical recruitment practices, including ensuring that recruitment fees and related costs are covered by employers rather than migrant workers, in accordance with international labour standards, the ILO Fair Recruitment Initiative, and the ILO General Principles and Operational Guidelines for Fair Recruitment and the Definition of Recruitment Fees and Related Costs, 2019;

Strengthening of labour inspection and occupational, safety and health (OSH) systems, in particular in migrant-intensive sectors such as construction and domestic work;

Improving access to justice for migrant workers, including efficient and effective dispute resolution accompanied by compensation mechanisms, and by imposing meaningful and proportionate penalties on employers for violating migrant workers’ rights;

Promoting the right of all migrant workers, including domestic workers, to freedom of association and collective bargaining, and capacity building of trade unions and civil society organizations for improved outreach and service delivery to migrant workers;

Extending social protection coverage to migrant workers;

Supporting the conclusion and effective implementation of bilateral labour agreements and Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) between countries of origin and destination, in accordance with International Labour Standards and the UN Network on Migration Global Guidance on Bilateral Labour Migration Agreements;

Supporting regular and inclusive dialogue on labour migration and mobility at the national, regional and interregional level, such as the Africa-Arab States Tripartite Interregional Meeting on Labour Migration, co-organized by the African Union Commission and ILO in November 2021; and

Promoting job creation and access to the labour market for refugees, in accordance with the ILO Guiding principles on the access of refugees and other forcibly displaced persons to the labour market, 2016.