ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned chiefly with establishing the 1980 pattern of labor migration in the Arab World, rather than with projections, although some mention is made of underlying trends in international labor migration in the region. The distinction between primary and secondary labor markets in the assessment of international migration is an important one, and is of some relevance to Egypt. The international labor migration system in the Arab region is subject to rapid change caused by very strong market forces that are difficult to temper. Both the rapidity of growth and the large share of employment in the labor-importing states accounted for by non-nationals are factors contributing to future instability. Labor market imbalances in the labor-exporting states will be exacerbated by the continuing growth in the demand for skilled and professional labor—often necessarily Arabic speaking—in the capital-rich states.
