Expats And The Labor Force

Expats and the Labor Force examines the flows of people and money in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. This timely book outlines the reasons that made the Gulf region a destination for millions of migrants. Taking advantage of the discovery of large hydrocarbon reserves and relatively stable political environment, the GCC countries filled the large demand for labor with foreign workers.

However the number, share, and source of expatriates have presented serious challenges for the region. Naufal and Genc discuss these consequences on the composition of the labor force and remittance outflows. Review: Despite the well-known dramatic rise in the per capita incomes, oil exports, and reserves and even in the height of buildings of the six Gulf Cooperation Council members, little is known about how those incomes, output and buildings are produced, especially in terms of the labor force.

In Expats and the Labor Force, Naufal and Genc go a long way toward enlightening readers about the importance of the foreign labor force, the changing composition of that labor force, and the reasons behind it. Most importantly, they derive the implications of this dependence on foreign workers for outward remittances and the implications of these for inflation, exchange rate stability, and monetary policy.

To their credit, the authors also address certain policy issues that are likely to loom in the years ahead as the ability to recruit low cost workers from abroad declines, and pressures to absorb the growing numbers of increasingly educated nationals entering the labor force continue to rise. - Jeffrey B.

Nugent, professor of Economics, University of Southern California By offering a detailed background on people and money flows in the GCC countries, Expats and the Labor Force analyzes how the Gulf region became the third most important destination. A unique contribution to migration literature in general and the Middle Eastern region in particular.

This book is not only for researchers, but for general readers as well. - S. M. Ghazanfar, emeritus professor of Economics, University of Idaho