ABSTRACT
One consequence of labour migration within the region is that the economic effects of fluctuating oil prices reach beyond the oil-rich countries. Economic well-being in countries that lack natural reserves of oil is linked to oil prices by the remittances sent home by migrant workers in the oil states. When prices go up and the oil-rich get richer, they need more workers, when prices go down; foreign workers lose their jobs and get sent home. In the Middle East, the small oil-rich states of the Gulf exercise the greatest pulling power, drawing within the region on countries like Egypt and Yemen as well as on countries such as Pakistan outside the region. France and other European countries are the main destinations for labour migration from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. Despite the vagaries of the system, Egypt and Yemen have been able to get by on the basis of money earned abroad and sent home.
