ABSTRACT

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines Asian labor migration to the Middle East largely from the perspective of the major sending countries. It explores some of the critical issues that have arisen from the rapid increase in Asian labor migration. The book argues that labor export has probably reduced unemployment in Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia, and salutary employment effects have also been noted in other Asian countries. The flow of oil from the Middle East to Asia has been paralleled by a flow of Asian workers to the Middle East—a labor pipeline that is fed by a vast supply of ready Asian workers. Asian labor migrants are predominantly young, overwhelmingly male, and mostly married with dependents in the sending country. In 1980, for example, remittances from Asian labor migrants totaled more than US $7 billion.