Development of Migrant Businesses in Saudi Arabia: Towards an Economic Sociology of Gulf Migration (original) (raw)
Free related PDFsRelated papers
Beyond Labour Migration: The Making of migrant enterprises in Saudi Arabia
Migrant labour has been an integral part of the social and economic fabric of the Gulf societies. While labour migration has affected many aspects of the lives of migrants and their receiving states in the Gulf, one of the most visible but often neglected migration outcomes is the development of migrant-operated businesses across the Gulf states. Evidently, many of these businesses are owned and run by migrants in collaboration with kafeels. Drawing on the experiences of Bangladeshi migrant entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia, this article explores the dynamics of Gulf migration, by identifying the transition from migrant worker to migrant entrepreneur, and explaining the making of migrant entrepreneurship within the temporary migration process. The study suggests that migrant entrepreneurship is embedded within the dynamics of the migration trajectory and the broader factors on which this depends. Notwithstanding their marginal character, the Bangladeshi enterprises in this study have flourished because of migrants’ willingness to embrace innovation. The article concludes with a call for identifying the best way to recognize migrant entrepreneurs’ contribution to economic development in Saudi Arabia.
Free PDF
Free PDF
Migration as a risky gamble-Percot-SP.docx
Among South Asian countries, it is for Bangladeshis that the financial cost of migration to the Gulf is the highest. The main reason may be the very large number of labour contracts obtained through ‘personal visas’) which are not or not properly controlled by the State institutions and are sold at a high price. The potential migrants are thus left in a particularly vulnerable situation from their departure time (high rate of indebtedness) to their arrival and stay in the country of migration. Bangladeshis are now the most important community of migrants among South Asians. Among them are fishermen which represent a paradigmatic example of this difficult situation. Based on fieldworks in Hatiya, a small island of the Bay of Bengal from where these fishermen are originating, and in several harbours of Oman, I intend to highlight the different mechanisms which make migration a very risky gamble for these men. From the recruitment process through local networks, the conditions of work and salaries, the unavoidable path to an irregular status and eventually the arrest and deportation of most of these workers, I propose to show how, structurally, their migratory experience almost always leads to failure and increased poverty.
Free PDF
Free PDF
Development of Immigrant Businesses in Japan: A Case of Bangladeshi immigrants
One of the visible but often neglected outcomes of international migration in Asia is the emergence of immigrant-run businesses. Drawing on the experiences of Bangladeshi migrant entrepreneurs in Japan, this study examines how migrants reposition themselves from the rank of irregular workers to that of entrepreneurs under conditions of temporary migration. It highlights both the opportunity structure and the ingenuity of migrants in entrepreneurship. Unlike traditional migrant businesses, Bangladeshi migrant entrepreneurs engage in transactions in ethnic and non-ethnic products and are driven to adopt innovative strategies to make use of available technology in communication and transport and the globalization of markets. In doing so, they maintain multiple orientations in cultivating both the ethnic and local markets and developing a transnational and/or multinational dimension in growing their businesses.
Free PDF
This paper looks at migration management in the Gulf monarchies since the 1930s. It describes the dynamics of labour import and immigration policies highlighting the hybrid nature of migration management. Migration trends and migrants’ lives are organised by public and private actors and institutions operating transnationally, between home and host countries. The economic determinants and the exploitative dimension of migration management have often been highlighted in the literature. This paper explores the patterns and politics of migration management at the domestic, regional and international level over time to identify changes and continuity. From the colonial premises to the 1970s and the oil boom, the patterns of labour import management proved consistent, shaping immigration as temporary and denying foreign workers socio-economic rights. The politics and the economics of migration management evolved over time, accounting for instance for a shift in the geography of labour import – from Arab migration to Asian migration. Since the 1990s however States and governments have sought to increase their control in the management of migration as migrants’ settlement emerged as a security concern in Gulf societies. Reforms adopted in the wake of the Arab Spring have further illustrated this trend, bringing the State back in the illiberal transnationalism of migration management and anti-immigrant policies.
Free PDF
Expanding Financial Inclusion of Foreign-born Residents in Lebanon - Diagnostic Market Study
2019
This synthesis diagnostic study seeks to narrow the information gap by providing insights from available sources about the foreign-born populations in Lebanon from the perspective of an FSP considering to expand services to these populations. The study is a summary of an in-depth market assessment conducted as part of a 4-month technical assistance project co-funded by the Swiss Capacity Building Facility (SCBF) , the Arab Gulf Program for Development (AGFUND), and IBDAA Microfinance SAL, Lebanon.
Free PDF
Demography, Migration, and the Labour Market in Saudi Arabia (UPDATED Nov. 2018)
GLMM Explanatory Notes, 2018
For many countries in Asia and the Arab world, Saudi Arabia is a prime destination and source of remittances from workers. As of mid-2018, expatriates made up 37 per cent of the Kingdom’s population, most of them coming from South Asia. They accounted for 76 per cent of the employed population and 80 per cent of the private sector workforce. Since September 2011, and in spite of a spurt in foreign labour recruitment since the mid-2000s, a voluntary policy called ‘Nitaqat’ aimed at ‘Saudising’ the Kingdom’s workforce is being implemented. An array of labour market reform measures, introduction of taxation and dependents’ fees, as well as two large-scale campaigns of deportation of foreign residents in irregular administrative situation in 2013 and 2017 eventually led to a decrease in the number of expatriates in the Kingdom. About 800,000 left the country between 2017 and mid-2018. Approximately 2.7 million foreign nationals were deported from Saudi Arabia between April 2013 and August 2018.
Free PDF
Abstract: Dissertation Submitted to Jawaharlal Nehru University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for Award of the degree of MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY. The root causes of the GCC's employment problems are interlocked – a system of national education that has largely not been competitive or well aligned with the needs of modern industry, a culture of citizens conditioned to a protective government, a public sector that is overstaffed and inefficient, and counterproductive policies in areas such as immigration and social welfare. It is also reflected in the highly distorted labour market in the region, founded on a socio-ethnic duality. In some respects the labour market is rigid, with pronounced differences in the wages for non-nationals and nationals. In other aspects it is flexible as current laws make it very easy to import or deport foreigners based on hiring/firing. This is also why“unemployment” is a national issue, for if and when a foreigner‟s work visa is terminated, he or she is obliged to return to the home country. In the final analysis – • At the GCC level, the dissertation research disproves the hypothesis that growing numbers of GCC nationals have entered the private sector due to workforce nationalisation programmes, replacing foreign labour. • The second hypothesis has been validated in that the growing mismatch between available local labour and the labour market requirements has undermined the success of Emiratisation. • Finally, the failure of Emiratisation has been concluded while validating the hypothesis that Indian labour migration to the UAE has been vigorous despite Emiratisation.
Free PDF
Free PDF
