Dilemma of ultra-rapid development: reliance on migrant labor in the oil rich Gulf States
The ultra-rapid development undertaken by the Gulf States of Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates is different from that of other countries. After acquiring enormous financial resources in the early seventies, they decided to push ahead toward the goal of modern economies, while simultaneously providing a range of welfare services. Having small populations, they had to import not only technology but also the labor to manage the developmental process. Consequently, as the pace of development increased, so did the migrant populations. Thus, in 1980 nationals (except for Saudi Arabia) were a minority - Kuwaitis were 41.5%, Qataris were 26% and the Emirate nationals were 24%. The development process gave rise to parallel labor market sectors where the welfare and capitalist sectors grew simultaneously. As the capitalist sector imported labor for its economic ventures, social services had to be expanded to cover them, thus incurring a further import of labor. Inevitably, all these societies are experiencing in the course of their rapid development considerable cultural change, not all of it planned or welcome. Each society expects to become economically modern while perserving the relatively unaltered traditional religious and authority structures.
- OSTI ID:
- 6037736
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
The importance of oil to the economies of the organization of the petroleum exporting countries
Economic prospects for the Gulf Cooperation Council
Related Subjects
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
MANPOWER
KUWAIT
QATAR
SAUDI ARABIA
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
HUMAN FACTORS
POPULATION RELOCATION
SOCIAL IMPACT
ASIA
MIDDLE EAST
020700* - Petroleum- Economics
Industrial
& Business Aspects
290200 - Energy Planning & Policy- Economics & Sociology
294002 - Energy Planning & Policy- Petroleum