Migrant Worker Well-Being and Its Determinants: The Case of Qatar

Michael C. Ewers (), Abdoulaye Diop, Kien Trung Le and Lina Bader
Additional contact information
Michael C. Ewers: University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Abdoulaye Diop: Qatar University
Kien Trung Le: Qatar University
Lina Bader: Qatar University

Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, 2020, vol. 152, issue 1, No 5, 137-163

Abstract: Abstract Despite significant media attention and criticism, we know very little about the living and working conditions of low-income migrants in the Arab Gulf states, how migrants themselves view these conditions, or what factors most shape migrant worker well-being. Utilizing data from a unique, nationally representative survey of migrant workers living in labor camps in Qatar, this paper uses subjective and objective indicators to provide a more complete picture of migrant worker well-being and its determinants. We create a composite score of well-being based on migrant worker satisfaction with their job, human rights, salary, company treatment, and medical care. We then utilize ordinary least square to examine the degree to which migrant well-being is shaped by demographic characteristics, contract honoring, salary and debt levels, working conditions, human rights, and living conditions. Results identify contract-related issues as the strongest determinant of well-being, including whether a contract was honored, whether a copy of the contract was provided, and whether the details of employment in the contract were clear. More broadly, our results point to workers having low levels of overall awareness of their legal rights under existing Gulf labor law. Migrant worker well-being can thus be improved by raising this awareness and enforcing existing laws.

Keywords: Well-being; Welfare; Job satisfaction; Migration; Qatar Arab Gulf States (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11205-020-02427-3 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:soinre:v:152:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1007_s11205-020-02427-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11135

DOI: 10.1007/s11205-020-02427-3

Access Statistics for this article

Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement is currently edited by Filomena Maggino

More articles in Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().