https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6229-6888
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ABSTRACT
Traditionally, countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have been the most preferred destination for professional migrants from Sri Lanka. However, with the boom in the petroleum industry of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in the 1970s, the Gulf has increasingly become an appealing destination for Sri Lankan professional migrants. Among Gulf countries, Qatar is the most common destination. A combination of various factors motivates highly-skilled Sri Lankan workers to migrate to the GCC in general and Qatar in particular. The primary objective of this paper is to analyse these factors. The study is based on primary data gathered via in-depth interviews with 12 key informants and an online survey of 125 professionals. The sample for the questionnaire was selected using a combination of non-probability methods and the data gathered was analysed using a mixed methodology. The study identifies that among the numerous factors that influence Sri Lankan professionals to migrate to the GCC, the tax-free salary which the respondents believe to be higher than the disposable income they can earn in OECD countries is the primary reason for migrating to a Gulf country over OECD countries. The study also identifies that whereas quality-of-life-related factors play a key role in the migration decision to OECD countries, income-related factors are the most crucial in migrating to GCC nations.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. The GCC region includes six nations; Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.
2. Lee’s push and pull model is a micro theory as his theory includes individualistic interpretations of these factors (Olejarova, Citation2007).
3. This study defines a professional migrant as a migrant with at least two years of tertiary education in a given profession which is the most commonly used definition of professional migrants in migration literature and the basic definition of highly skilled migrants used by the International Organisation for Migration (Citation2008). All engineers and accountants in the sample have at least four years of university education. Themajority of quantity surveyors have more than three years of tertiary education.
4. The Institute of Engineers Sri Lanka (IESL) – Qatar Chapter, the Institute of Charted Accountants of Sri Lanka (ICAS) – Qatar Chapter, Society of Sri Lankan Quantity Surveyors (SLQS) – Qatar.
5. There is a significant number of Sri Lankan teachers and managers working in Qatar. However, their professional qualifications greatly vary and do not fit the definition of professionals used in this study. Hence, they were not included in the study.
6. The data from www.salaryexplorer.com was used as it is a popular website for comparing salaries in various cities around the world based on profession, level of education, experience and other criteria. In order to calculate the average salaries, this website utilises salary data provided by its users, recruitment agencies, companies and employers.
7. Data obtained from www.salaryexplorer.com, .
8. The currency conversion rates were obtained from https://www.xe.com/ on 7 August 2019.
9. Calculated based on the simple tax calculator provided by the Government of Australia’s Taxation Office (www.ato.gov.au/calculators-and-tools/simple-tax-calculator/) .
10. In Canada, the income tax rate differs based on the province. For this calculation, the tax rate of Nunavut was used as it has the lowest tax rate in Canada. The total tax was calculated based on the calculator provided by https://simpletax.ca/calculator.
11. The average of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the two main cities in the UAE.
12. This interview was conducted in 2017. Movie theatres began to operate on a commercial scale in Saudi Arabia from 2018. However, they are still strictly censored and are centred around major cities.
13. Even though the latter two can be considered as different experiences of the same factor, there are slight deviations between the two. Insufficient salary refers to the low remuneration package received vis-à-vis skills, experience and the earnings of other job categories(such as doctors) while the inability tosave can be the result of the high cost of living despite the reasonable salary received in comparison to the earnings of other professionals.
14. This average has been calculated based on the answers given by 112 respondents. The answers of the rest of the respondents were not included in the calculation since they included non-quantifiable responses such as ‘I cannot remember’, ‘I did not work in Sri Lanka’.
15. These averages have been calculated based on answers given by 110 respondents.
16. This average has been calculated based on answers given by 110 respondents.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Anoji Punchikumari Ekanayake
Anoji Punchikumari Ekanayake is a research professional with research interests in migration and labour, gender, and trade. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Peradeniya with first-class honours in Economics, English and Management in 2015, and graduated from the University of Colombo with an MA in Development Studies in 2018. She is currently working as a Research Assistant in the Migration and Displacement Stream in the UKRI GCRF Gender, Justice and Security Hub Project.
Kopalapillai Amirthalingam
Kopalapillai Amirthalingam is a Professor in Economics attached to the Department of Economics, University of Colombo. He works both as a researcher and development consultant with a special interest in displacement, migration, and public finance. His work has appeared in leading journals such as Journal of Refugee Studies, Disasters, Migration and Development, and Sri Lanka Economic Journal.
