Migrant workers mulling a move to the GCC would choose to live in Saudi Arabia over neighbouring Gulf state the UAE, a report published Wednesday said.
A report by Abu Dhabi Gallup said 52 percent of foreign workers hoping to live in the Gulf would choose to live in Saudi Arabia, compared to 35 percent who favoured the UAE.
The report drew from a survey of 347,713 people in 148 countries, interviewed between 2007 and 2009. About 75,000 said they would like to move to another country.
Of those eyeing a move to the Gulf, the vast majority came from the Middle East, Asia and Africa, with the region’s popularity plummeting among European and American respondents.
Very few Europeans said they would move to the Gulf, though they represent 29 percent of those who would like to move to Australia. Similarly, less than one percent of migrants from American named a Gulf country as their preferred destination. More than 21 percent of respondents, however, said they would move to Japan while 18 percent would prefer a move back to the US.
The GCC appealed most to relatively less-educated potential migrants, Gallup said, with just two percent of those hoping to move to Saudi boasting four years of education beyond high school or a college degree.
Six percent of those hoping to move to the UAE had a college degree or four years of education past high school, the report said.
Highly-educated migrants favoured a move to Switzerland, Australia and Canada, whose high-income and clear naturalisation policies appealed to foreign workers.
“The countries of origin of potential migrants interested in moving permanently to Saudi Arabia and the UAE are strikingly different from the home nations of those wishing to move to other high-income countries worldwide,” analysts wrote.
“The data clearly highlight that a small portion of those who want to migrate to the GCC are highly educated or have extensive training.”
Of those who would like to migrate to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, just 16 and 15 percent respectively describe themselves as “professional workers”, the report said, suggesting highly-education migrants may be deterred by what is perceived as the Gulf’s favouring of nationals. “Leaders must ensure that meritocracy – not national identity – is the most important qualification employers take into account,” to avoid losing talent to more merit-based environments, analysts said.
Regional political turmoil is also expected to impact the decisions of Arab migrants that would traditionally look to the Gulf states for employment, particularly those from Egypt and Tunisia.
Should job markets in these two countries stabilise under new leadership, the number of citizens prepared to move to the GCC will likely decline, removing a key labour market for the Gulf.
“If economies in MENA countries undergoing democratic transitions stabilize and produce more jobs, the GCC may not be able to count on a steady stream of skilled Arabic-speaking migrant workers,” the report noted.
A Gallup poll released this month conducted after the resignation of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak found 88 percent of Egyptians said they intended to remain in the country.
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