ABSTRACT
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) area includes 40 per cent of world oil reserves as well as 23 per cent of natural gas reserves, which makes it one of the leading producers and exporters of hydrocarbons. In all GCC countries the proportion of foreign labour in the total labour force is definitely higher than that of nationals, with rates in excess of 90 per cent in Qatar and Kuwait. In all the GCC countries there is a high proportion of nationals in the public sector, the highest rates being those found in Saudi Arabia, Oman and Bahrain. The high dependence of the Gulf area on hydrocarbons production and exports played a key role in its population dynamics as well as in the labour market structure. The conflicts and tensions that were rife in those years, including the many Arab-Israeli conflicts, fuelled major migration flows of Palestinians, Yemenites, Egyptians and Lebanese towards the Gulf economies.
