Page 207 - Aamir Rehman - Dubai & Co Global Strategies for Doing Business in the Gulf States-McGraw-Hill (2007)

Building Your Team: Human Capital Strategies for the GCC 189

Figure 7.2 Prosperity without institutions: the backfill imperative

needed to embark on an ambitious infrastructure development
agenda in the wake of the oil boom, for which the local labor
market was not sufficient. A first issue was simply one of scarcity:
the sheer number of people needed across all sectors was far more
than were locally available. A second, more delicate issue was one
of skills. In the 1970s and preceding decades, educational and
training facilities in the Gulf were not nearly as plentiful—or as
sophisticated—as were needed as the GCC economies developed.
The engineers needed for massive infrastructure projects were few
and far between; the educators needed to staff schools and colleges
were scarce; the managers needed to run larger institutions and
businesses were simply not available in the domestic market.
Expatriate talent was the only option.
Fortunately for the GCC states, labor from nearby, less
prosperous countries has been readily available. The Gulf, as
discussed earlier, has been a magnet for Arab talent and represents
the most attractive workplace in the Middle East region. Between
1975 and the early 1980s, the number of Arab expatriate workers in
3
the Gulf states nearly doubled. Since then, there has been a steady
stream of Arab talent flowing to the region—drawn by its opportu-
nities, proximity, and linguistic and cultural compatibility. South
Asia, with a population well above 1 billion people, is another nat-
ural pool of talent for the Gulf and has rapidly become the largest
source for expatriate workers in the GCC. Manual labor such as
construction work and janitorial services is carried out largely by