Original Language
English
ISBN
ISBN 9786-561-9068-92
Number of Pages
186
Date of upload

28 Sep 2015

Intra-Regional Labour Mobility in the Arab World

The report, part of a joint project between the IOM and the ALO to assist countries in the Arab region to effectively manage human and labour mobility, finds that 5.8 out of 13 million Arab migrants worldwide reside in the region. It underlines that the migration corridor between the Mashreq (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen) and the Arab Gulf remains the most significant one, with two in three migrants from Mashreq and Yemen working in countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council.  

Furthermore, the report finds that Arab Countries received an estimated 35.1 billion USD in remittance inflows, marking 6.6 per cent decline from 2008, mostly due to the effects of the financial crisis. The Arab region remains a major origin of remittance outflows, with almost 31 billion USD being sent by foreign workers in 2008. For countries like Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan, the total amount of remittances received from these expatriates are 40 to 190 percent higher than intra-regional trade revenues, suggesting that intra-regional labour mobility could serve as one of the major drivers of development and socio-economic integration of the Arab region.

The report also finds that the positive aspects could be better harnessed through the reinforcement of existing labour mobility management systems and making them more flexible to better respond to challenges such as growing young populations, high unemployment rates, the emergence of irregular and unsafe migration practices and widening regional development and employment differentials.

  • Editorial Team
  • Acknowledgments
  • List of Tables and Figures
  • List of Figures
  • List of Text Boxes
  • Foreword by Md. Shahidul Haque and Ahmed M. Luqman
  • Executive Summary
    • Chapter 1 Intra-Regional Labour Mobility in the Arab World: An Overview
    • Chapter 2: Arab Youth and Labour Mobility
    • Chapter 3: Intra-Regional Migration as a Tool to Absorb Arab Unemployment
    • Chapter 4: The Case of Lebanon as an Origin and Destination Country of Arab Labour Mobility
    • Chapter 5: Intra-National Labour Mobility Among the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council States in the Context of the Financial Crisis and the Gulf Monetary Union
    • Chapter 6: Legal and Policy Framework for the Protection of the Rights of Foreign Workers in the Arab Region
  • Conclusion