Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/142380 
Year of Publication: 
2016
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 9941
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper examines the legal and policy implications of information asymmetry on foreign domestic workers employed under the Kafala sponsorship system in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Drawing from ethnographic and field-based observations in large GCC migrant destinations – including Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – we investigate the information flows and market uncertainties between five key stakeholders: labor-receiving governments, labor-sending governments, recruitment agencies (subagents), sponsors (employers), and social networks. Several factors contribute to asymmetric information: the lack of bilateral labor agreements and government policy coordination, programs between and among government entities, the absence of labor law for domestic workers, and the laissez faire approach of the labor-receiving government. These sources of asymmetric information create serious market vulnerabilities for the domestic worker population, often resulting in loss of employment and early deportation. The concluding section further outlines policy implications and areas of methodological research on GCC migration.
Subjects: 
Middle East
domestic worker
migration
asymmetric information
Gulf Cooperation Council Countries
JEL: 
D82
F22
G14
N35
N45
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
146.44 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.