ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to re-estimate the number of Egyptians abroad with reference to the regional picture of labor migration, before consideration is made of future numbers abroad. By 1977, the method of establishing the number of Egyptians employed abroad by examining census, labor market and border-crossing data in the countries of employment of Egyptians was being put into practice. The controversy over the number of Egyptians working abroad should have been resolved by the Egyptian population census of 1976. Egyptians in the international labor market are competing with other supplies of manpower of different nationalities. While difficult to demonstrate empirically, it is worth running through the factors favoring Egyptian migration as background to the future demand for Egyptians abroad. One factor militating in favor of expanded Egyptian migration for employment is political. Labor-importing states’ policy makers are increasingly fearful of the high propensity of Arab migrant workers to bring their families to their country of employment and to settle there.
