Abstract

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has strongly reaffirmed the critical importance of labor migration to the global economy, even as it has raised questions about the temporary migration programs responsible for much of this migration. In the Arab Gulf states – home to some of the world’s highest proportions of migrants – the pandemic has highlighted critical structural weaknesses in the region’s kafāla migration regimes. Drawing on two nationally representative surveys of Qatar’s citizens and migrants conducted between October 2020 and June 2021, we argue that the Gulf’s temporary migration regimes have shown resilience during the pandemic regarding flexibility, networks, and policies. However, Gulf states have gained this resilience at the expense of migrant workers, which threatens the sustainability of the kafāla in its current form. Nevertheless, we also identify key reforms undertaken in Qatar, which continued during the pandemic, and we find general acceptance of these reforms by citizens and business owners. Additionally, we find that Covid-19 has promoted recognition of the importance of migrant workers in the national labor supply, even if significant steps are still required to reduce migrant vulnerability.

摘要

持续的 Covid-19 大流行强烈重申了劳务移民对全球经济的至关重要性，尽管它引发了对造成大部分移民的临时移民计划的质疑。在阿拉伯海湾国家——一些世界上移民比例最高的国家——大流行病凸显了该地区kafāla移民制度的关键结构性弱点。根据 2020 年 10 月至 2021 年 6 月期间对卡塔尔公民和移民进行的两项具有全国代表性的调查，我们认为海湾地区的临时移民制度在大流行期间在灵活性、网络和政策方面表现出了弹性。然而，海湾国家以牺牲移民工人为代价获得了这种复原力，这威胁到该地区的可持续性。当前形式的kafāla。尽管如此，我们还确定了卡塔尔在大流行期间继续进行的关键改革，我们发现公民和企业主普遍接受了这些改革。此外，我们发现 Covid-19 促进了人们对移民工人在国家劳动力供应中的重要性的认识，即使仍需要采取重大措施来降低移民的脆弱性。