Social Inclusion and Exclusion in GCC Labour Policy Transformations: Evidence from Qatar and Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Over the past five years, labour policies in the countries of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have witnessed significant transformations driven by numerous macro-level challenges, such as demographic imbalance, dependence on hydrocarbon economy, political and security crises. Despite the challenges' commonality across the GCC, yet, policy responses related to labour were different from country to another. This article explores the macro-level challenges facing labour policymaking in the GCC, followed by an examination of social inclusion/exclusion patterns targeting expatriate workers in Qatar and Saudi Arabia due to the recent labour policy transformations. Both countries were selected to provide in-depth contextual analysis of the radical shift towards inclusion in Qatar and exclusion in Saudi Arabia.