Research on the Effect of Social Networks on the Kuwait Labour Market
Prepared by the International Organization for Migration (IOM)
Joint Programme for the Support of the Public Authority for Manpower Kuwait City, Kuwait May 2016
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Key Messages:
Workers use a range of formal and informal networks that act as social capital for their mobili ty and work trajectory. While networks in home countries play a crucial role in facilitating workers’ move to destination countries, networks with fellow nationals and non- nationals developed during employment abroad are more important in determining their employment trajectories.
Large communities of foreign workers in Kuwait (i.e. India) use social networks to sustain their exponential growth through leveraging non-demand driven employment opportunities while smaller communities of foreign workers’ (i.e. Nepal) numbers remain consistent as they tend to use formal recruitment channels to pursue formal demand driven employment opportunities .
Institutional factors such as policies of sending and receiving countries may at times amplify the potential negative impact of social networks on labour markets in receiving states.
The strength of social capital depends on and reflects not only on the numbers of foreign nationals in the receiving state workforce but also on the level of employment of the workers. Workers who have weaker social capital are likely to face exclusion in the labour market.
Workers using social networks to obtain employment opportunities under Visa 20 (domestic workers) and Visa 18 (government projects) are often associated with illegal visa trading.
Workers who use social networks to acquire jobs under Visa 18 (shoon) tend to have a mismatch between their skills and the requirement of the jobs.
Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) in Kuwait, has limited control on remedying the negative effects of social networks on the Kuwait labour market in its current structure.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... 3 List of Boxes ...... 6 ABBREVIATIONS ...... 7 CHAPTER I. WHY A FOCUS ON SOCIAL NETWORKS OF WORKERS ...... 8 A. Introduction ...... 8 B. Objectives of the research ...... 10 C. Research questions ...... 10 D. Structure of the report ...... 11 E. . Conceptual framework ...... 11 CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY ...... 12 A. Site selection and justification ...... 12 1. Study site and rationale for Nepal ...... 12 2. Study site and rationale for India ...... 13 B. Research methods ...... 14 1. Data analysis ...... 14 2. Ethical considerations ...... 15 C. Limitations of the study ...... 15 CHAPTER III: STUDY FINDINGS ...... 15 A. Policies and regulations determining labour mobility of foreing workers in Kuwait ...... 15 B. Defining social network impact on labour mobility to Kuwait ...... 17 1. How social networks and intermediaries help temporary workers move to Kuwait ...... 17 SOCIAL NETWORK EFFECT FROM CORRIDORS SENDING SMALL VOLUMES OF WORKERS: CASE STUDY OF NEPAL ...... 19 A. An overview of trends of contractual workers' mobility from Nepal to Kuwait ...... 19 1. Profile of Nepali workers in Kuwait ...... 20 2. Employment details ...... 22 3. Reasons of Nepali workers for choosing Kuwait as a destination for temporary work ...... 23 B. The Process Determining Labour Mobility to Kuwait and the Role of Intermediaries and Social Networks ...... 25
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1. Role of intermediaries and social networks in labour mobility to Kuwait ...... 25 2. Why Nepali workers prefer social networks over formal recruitment agencies? ...... 26 3. Creating a pathway to Kuwait: Chain mobility and the role of intermediaries and social networks 28 C. Role of Social Networks in Job Placement ...... 30 1. Obtaining a job ...... 30 2. Role of social networks in the selection process ...... 33 4. Role of social networks in creating positions in labour market ...... 35 D. Utilizing Old or New Social Networks after Moving to Kuwait ...... 36 1. Making new networks in Kuwait ...... 36 E. Role of Social Network in Promotion, Salary Increases and other Incentives ...... 40 F. Job Hopping and the Role of Social Networks in Kuwait ...... 41 G. Analytical Conclusion: The Impact of Nepali Foreign Workers' Networks on the Kuwaiti Labour Market ...... 42 1. Impact on creating chain mobility to Kuwait ...... 42 2. Impact on creation of positions ...... 43 3. Impact on selection of workers ...... 43 4. Other Impacts ...... 44 SOCIAL NETWORK EFFECT FROM CORRIDORS SENDING LARGE VOLUME OF WORKERS: CASE STUDY OF INDIA ...... 45 A. Indian Foreign Workers in Kuwait: An Overview ...... 45 B. Indian worker population in Kuwait ...... 46 1. Profile of Indian workers in Kuwait ...... 46 2. Job sector profile...... 47 3. Employment details ...... 47 C. Labour Mobility: Policies and Regulations ...... 48 1. Policies and regulations in India ...... 48 2. Creation of Networks that Facilitate Movement of Workers to Kuwait ...... 49 D. The Process Determining Labour Mobility to Kuwait and the Role of Intermediaries and Social Networks ...... 50 1. Role of intermediaries and social networks in Indian labour mobility to Kuwait ...... 50 2. Funding the move ...... 53 3. Job Placement and the Role of Social Networks ...... 54
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4. Creation of positions and the role of social networks ...... 56 A. Utilizing Old or New Social Networks after Moving to Kuwait ...... 56 1. Making new networks in Kuwait ...... 57 2. Role of Social Networks in Promotion, Perks and other Incentives ...... 58 3. Job Hopping and the Role of Social Networks ...... 58 B. Why Workers Utilize Social Networks over Formal Channels of Recruitment and Movement ..... 58 C. Analytical Conclusion: The Impact of Indian Workers' Networks on the Kuwaiti Labour Market . 61 1. Creation of positions ...... 62 2. Influence on selection of workers ...... 62 Chapter V. Findings and Recommendations ...... 63 Conclusion and suggested recommendations ...... 67 REFERENCES ...... 70
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List of Tables
Table 1: Study Population ...... 14 Table 2: Types of Visa available to foreign workers and their families ...... 17 Table 3: Flow of Nepali workers to Kuwait (2008/9-2014/15) ...... 20 Table 4: Previous personal and family migratory history, among Nepali migrants working in Kuwait ...... 21 Table 5: Estimated Distribution of Nepali workforce in Kuwait labour market ...... 22 Table 6: Indians in Kuwait, 1975 - 2015 ...... 46
List of Boxes
Box 1: Key laws and conventions governing temporary workers from India and Nepal to Kuwait ...... 16
List of Figures
Figure 1: Reasons for choosing Kuwait ...... 23 Figure 2: Workers’ opinions on if friends and family members can place Nepalis in jobs ...... 31 Figure 3: Workers’ perceptions of role of social networks in job promotions ...... 40 Figure 5: Had immediate family members and relatives moved abroad ...... 52 Figure 6: Had family members/relatives/friends/neighbors moved to Kuwait ...... 53 Figure 7: Had personal experience of foreign employment ...... 53 Figure 8: Workers’ opinions on role of social networks in job placement ...... 55 Figure 9: Workers’ perceptions on role of social networks in job promotion ...... 56
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ABBREVIATIONS
CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women CSB Central Statistical Bureau CTEVT Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training CV Curriculum vitae DoFE Department of Foreign Employment FGD Focus Group Discussion GCC Gulf Cooperation Council GoK Government of Kuwait GoI Government of India GoN Government of Nepal IDI In-Depth Interview ILO International Labour Organization KWD Kuwaiti Dinar KFC Kentucky Fried Chicken KII Key Informant Interview MoU Memorandum of Understanding NOC No Objection Certificate NRN Non Resident Nepali NRI Non Resident Indian INR Indian Rupee NRs Nepali Rupee PAM Public Authority for Manpower PCC Police Clearance Certificate PGE Protector General of Emigrants (under Ministry of Indian Overseas Affairs) SGD Small Group Discussion USD U.S. Dollars
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CHAPTER I. WHY A FOCUS ON SOCIAL NETWORKS OF WORKERS
A. Introduction
International population movement is a key aspect of globalisation. Multiple cross cutting factors including social, economic and political factors determine movement of people from one country to another. In this report we focus on only one aspect of this multi-dimensional movement – the mobility of workers from South Asia to the Middle East. Sending and receiving countries see this mobility as both fraught with difficulties and full of promises. On the one hand, sending nations fear the loss of their most able population while receiving nations are mindful of the impacts of this new population on their citizenry. On the other hand, such movement becomes a vital source of resources - needed labour for the receiving countries, and remittances that add to the precious foreign-exchange reserves for the sending countries.
Understanding the impact of the inflow of workers is important to countries where a significant portion of their population consists of low skilled foreign workers. These countries generally rely heavily on low- skilled foreign labour for their production and infrastructure development. Increasingly, however, for the countries that rely heavily on low-skilled temporary contractual labour, there is an anxiety that (i) the movement reduces both productivity and the creation of higher value employment opportunities for locals; (ii) the quality and skills required for the jobs may be compromised if enough attention is not paid to the recruitment processes. Countries in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) are a good example of societies in which non-native temporary workers form the bulk of the labour force working in the private sector and are primarily employed in low-skilled jobs. We focus on Kuwait, where the foreign population is growing at a significant rate in comparison to the native population. According to the data provided by the Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI) in Kuwait, the total population of Kuwait is 4,207,102, of which 2,906,271 are non-Kuwaitis residing in the country. According to the report of the Ministry of Planning in the 2011 census (CSB, 2011), this chronic imbalance in the population composition is growing. Between 2005 and 2006, the number of native Kuwaitis increased by 3.3%, while the number of foreigners increased by 6.7%, primarily due to an influx of temporary workers.1 South Asians make up approximately 34% of the total population (ibid) and this has had an obvious impact on the labour market of Kuwait. Census data from Kuwait shows that between 1995 and 2011, the non-Kuwaiti working age population (22-44 years) engaged in the private sector increased from 591,614 to 1,288,024; an increase of 117.71 % in 15 years (CSB, 2013)2. Labour from Asian countries now accounts for 59.32% of the expatriate labour force in the private sector in Kuwait (ibid). Additionally, there is a population bulge among natives in Kuwait within working age groups (CSB, 2011). In such cases the influx of temporary contractual workers
1 http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/business/2012/04/two-thirds-of-the-kuwaiti-popula.html#
2CSB (Central Statistical Bureau). 2013. Main Features of Expatriate Labour employment in the Private Sector as of 30/6/2013: State of Kuwait: CSB
8 from other countries may have both positive and negative impacts in the labour market. One of the chief outcomes and concerns for host governments is the impact on creation of jobs for national workers.
On the supply side, the numbers of workers aspiring to work in the GCC is on the rise. An analysis of data from sending regions such as Nepal and India shows that the flow of contractual workers moving to the Gulf countries that initiated in the 1970s is not going to be a “temporary” one. To take the example of Kuwait, from Nepal, a mere 2,291 Nepalis had taken labour permits to go to Kuwait in 2008/9 while this number escalated to 20,669 by June 2015. On the other hand, the number of Indians in Kuwait rose from 681,288 in January 2013 (the latest available data) to more than 800,000 by February 2015. Among these, at least three quarters (77.7%) of temporary contractual workers from Nepal used formal recruitment agencies and agents to get their present jobs or seek career advancement3. Though numbers are not available, Indians too depend considerably on agents and recruitment agencies to get jobs in Kuwait, although informal social networks appear to also play a significant role.
Studies do exist already that examine the roles of social networks in the migration of Nepali and Indian workers (Thieme (2006); Donni et al., (2013); Adhikari and Deshingker (2015); Hagen-Zanker et al., (2014)). Generally they agree that social networks of workers and their households help workers throughout their mobility and job placement. Such networks support mobility through facilitating organization of the move, providing access to information and jobs, aiding in the retention of jobs, and providing economic and psychosocial support in the destination country. New studies such as Kern and Mueller Boker (2015), Thieme and Ghimire (2014), and Hagen-Zanker et al. (2014) show that formal recruitment agencies, locally referred to as “manpower agencies”, are also important actors that Nepali workers use extensively to get their jobs in GCC countries. This shows that formal intermediaries are playing a strong role in channelling the demand and supply of workers.
While the large volume of higher and lower skilled workers moving from India to the Gulf is well known, the recruitment practices involved in this labour mobility flow are relatively understudied. There exists little literature that looks at labour mobility and the role of recruitment practices in detail. In this context, a study of social networks and intermediaries can provide an illuminating view of temporary workers’ mobility in the GCC countries. For this reason, we employed this research focus to the current situation in Kuwait. Our hypothesis is that foreign workers’ social networks may have direct and in-direct negative impacts on the labour market of the destination countries. Directly, social networks of workers may create migrant enclaves that lead to fragmentation of labour markets and inspiring nepotism that compromises the quality of workers that assume positions in particular sectors. Indirectly, it can contribute to reducing productivity and investment in new capital intensive technologies by incentivizing recruitment of workers rather than other methods of increasing output, such as increasing productivity. However, the impact of social networks on the labour markets in the GCC region, while of critical importance given the size of the foreign worker population in the region, has not undergone considerable analysis. This research compares "network effects" within the India-Kuwait and Nepal-Kuwait labour corridors to understand if social networks impact workers from different countries in distinct ways. Furthermore, this study is the first to compare the impact of low-flow and high-flow labour corridors on a receiving country. The objective of
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9 the study is to produce a number of evidence-based recommendations for PAM to remedy, within its capacity, any negative effects of social networks on the Kuwait labour market. Even though regulating the recruitment and monitoring of domestic workers is outside PAM’s mandate, it was deliberately included in the study as domestic workers constitute 20% of the labour market and there is extensive use of social networks to seek employment in Kuwait particularly through this recruitment corridor.
B. Objectives of the research
As stated above, this study compares foreign worker flows to Kuwait from Nepal (a country with a relatively small population of workers in Kuwait) with those from India (a country with a large population of workers in Kuwait). The objective of the research is to better understand how the size of a foreign population may influence the impacts of social networks and their influence on host country labour markets. We will try to identify if and how temporary workers use social networks in different phases of their mobility and work life trajectory, what constitutes these networks, for what purposes they are used, and if/why they are preferred to formal recruitment channels. The aim is then to analyse the impact of these social networks on the selection of competent workers and the creation of positions in the Kuwaiti labour market. The specific objectives are to:
a. Analyse if foreign workers’ social networks and intermediaries create “chain mobility” of temporary workers to Kuwait; b. Understand if and how workers' social networks affect the selection process and placement of workers in jobs in Kuwait; c. Analyse if and how social networks create unnecessary jobs in the labour market in Kuwait; d. Understand if and why pursuing employment in Kuwait through social networks is preferred to formal recruitment channels; and e. Draft evidence-based policy recommendations to remedy the negative effect of social networks on Kuwait’s labour market.
C. Research questions
The research is guided by the following main questions:
a. What are the composition and characteristics of social networks used by Nepali and Indian contractual workers moving to and working in Kuwait? b. What role, if any, do these social networks play in the employment trajectories of foreign workers in Kuwait (such as in regards to their access to jobs and positions, promotions and perks in employment, or changing of jobs and employers)? c. What impact, if any, do network-based recruitment processes have on the structure and functioning of the labour market in which temporary contractual workers are employed? For example, are new positions being created when not necessary? Do unqualified
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workers with strong social networks have an advantage in terms of hiring, and does this promote forms of exclusion/inclusion. d. What are the possible best practices to address the potential negative impacts of social networks in the Kuwaiti labour market?
D. Structure of the report
The report is structured in the following way: The first section (above) presented an introduction to the study, including the key research questions and objectives. The second section provides the conceptual framework. The third section presents the methodology. This is followed by the study findings from both Nepal and India in the fourth section, including the analytical conclusion of the two corridors. The final section presents the recommendations that may be derived from the study.
E. . Conceptual framework
In mobility studies social networks are largely seen as networks that build social relations, build identities, or build workers’ networks. These networks have not only social but also political and economic dimensions to them (Al-Ali and Kosher, 2003; Truong and Gasper, 2011). Social networks exist prior to movement and are (re)created after the move to the new country of residence. Temporary workers build their social and cultural capital through the utilization of their social networks which further improve their social mobility at places of origin (Carruthers 2002) and places of destination.
The concept of social capital is useful in the analysis of the impacts of networks on the labour market in Kuwait. While social capital can benefit a group in the economy, it is often at the cost of economic inefficiency and may act to exclude others, perpetuating inequalities and inefficiencies in a system. In the present research, we take into consideration two forms of social capital (Granovetter, 1985): (i) bonding social capital which refers to networks that emerge out of strong social ties that are based on common identity such as family, kinship, gender, ethnicity, religion and so on; and (ii) bridging social capital, which refers to weaker social ties across society in which individual organisational behaviours are embedded. They are networks in which people have different identifications and belong to different identity groups. For our purpose, bridging social capital refers to the registered and unregistered intermediaries in the labour mobility flows. While literature on intermediaries identifies various entities such as travel agents, lawyers etc., for our purpose we consider registered recruitment agencies and unregistered sub-agents as intermediaries. Below, we provide a brief explanation of the concept of intermediaries in mobility studies.
Besides the notion of social capital which analyses workers' mobility within a framework of personal agency, we use the concept of "migration industry" (Castles and Miller, 2003) to triangulate findings from a meso level institutional perspective. The "migration industry" concept argues that macro level structures, such as rules and policies of Nepal, India and Kuwait in our case, meso (the intermediaries) and micro structures (such as workers and their bonding capitals for our purposes) are intertwined in the
11 mobility process. Considering meso structures, such as social networks, that condition the mobility helps us to critically analyse the important role of brokering structures in temporary workers' mobility. Lindquist et al (2012.pp 38) argue that paying ethnographic attention to brokers illuminates the broader infrastructure that makes mobility possible and sustains it. So, we use the concept of migration industry to look at the roles that brokering institutions such as workers' networks and recruitment agencies play in the employment trajectories of Nepali and Indian temporary workers in Kuwait.
CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY
This research is based on the assumption that social networks and intermediaries cannot be studied in isolation, nor can the impacts be quantified. We worked with an assumption that the best way to understand intermediaries and the impact of social networks on the labour market is to view the case of Nepali and Indian workers within the context of the Kuwaiti labour market. .
A qualitative approach was adopted as the study requires an understanding of intermediaries and networks from the worker’s perspective within the context of his/her socio-cultural origin. Knowledge of how the particular worker used the network to his/her benefits can be best understood by talking to workers and key informants that are involved in the worker's mobility and employment trajectory. This can be best done only by close observation and deeper interaction with the workers and relevant stakeholders in the labour market. Practically too, this is possible only by establishing a good rapport with the respondents.
We prefer qualitative tools over surveys because using qualitative tools provides us with the necessary flexibility in our inquiry of people and allows the questions to emerge and adapt in response to the dynamics and needs of the research. This is difficult with quantitative tools like surveys which require the construction of a fixed instrument or set of questions. In addition to these considerations, there is a practical aspect which leads us to choose qualitative over quantitative tools. As we are focusing on workers moving to Kuwait and from a few selected sites in Nepal and India, it would be difficult to find an adequate number of respondents for a survey in one particular cluster.
A. Site selection and justification Below we describe why Nepal and India were selected as source countries, and why particular regions were selected within them.
1. Study site and rationale for Nepal
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Nepal was selected as a country representing those that have fewer foreign workers in Kuwait. Fieldwork was done in Jhapa, Kathmandu, and Kuwait following the trajectory that workers take to move and work in Kuwait. Key informants, agents and prospective workers were interviewed in Kathmandu. Current workers and their employees were interviewed in different cities of Kuwait based on purposive sampling and snowball strategy. Returnee workers, family members left behind, and sending community members were interviewed in Jhapa.
To determine the site in Nepal we carried out an analysis of the movement trends of temporary workers to Kuwait from the 75 districts of Nepal over the last 5 years and another on monthly movement trends in the past year. The results showed the Jhapa district to be most appropriate for the research. This is because, while there are other districts such as Mahottari which have slightly higher migration rates to Kuwait, female movement from these districts is nil owing to high sanctions on women’s mobility. Jhapa has a more balanced male-female ratio, a longer history of engaging in temporary labour mobility, and use of intermediaries to facilitate movement to Kuwait.
Besides this, Jhapa has a heterogeneous population in terms of development, as well as caste and ethnicity- for example, presence of indigenous groups and minority groups like Rajbanshi- people of Terai origin who achieve low scores on the main development indicators, as well as presence of Brahmins and Chhetris who are of highland origins and fare better on development indicators.
2. Study site and rationale for India
India is by far the most important country for sending foreign workers to Kuwait and as such warrants investigation as to why such a large flow of workers has developed. The South Indian states of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and (now after its bifurcation), Telangana and Tamil Nadu are key worker sending states to Kuwait. For instance, the Indian embassy in Kuwait has started online help services in Indian languages other than Hindi; Malayalam followed by Telugu, Tamil, Bengali (Oriya, Assamese) and Kannada4 are languages in which assistance is currently provided - this provides a window to the major languages spoken by Indians in Kuwait. It appears Telugus make up one of the biggest linguistic groups in Kuwait, perhaps only second to Malayalees. Unlike Malayalees from Kerala, the Telugu-speaking states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are an important but under-studied temporary worker-sending region to Kuwait. An estimate by Telugu Kala Samithi5 suggests there are up to 175,000 Telugus living in Kuwait.
Our preliminary research also points out that workers from these states are a mixed group which include skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled workers. Focusing on Telugu linguistic group, our research settled on two clusters from where Telugu workers originate - an urban and a rural cluster – to gather a more diverse sample. Guntur Town was selected for the urban cluster, while Kadapa district was identified for the rural cluster as it shows promise of having created chain mobility of workers to Kuwait.
4 Details can be found here - http://indembkwt.org/Pages/LanguageSkills.aspx 5 http://www.tkskuwait.com/
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B. Research methods
Our entry point for the research is the foreign workers. Following Ritzer (1996), who explains that research projects following macro-micro integration theories should place either the agents or the structure in the "methodological brackets", we start with the worker, the “agent”, and place the structure, the Kuwaiti labour market, in the methodological brackets. This means that we will be looking at how the workers as agents manoeuvre their social networks and how this impacts the labour market, rather than how the labour market structures and impacts the movement of the foreign workers.
We used a range of qualitative research instruments, such as community timelines, inter-destination pairing, network mapping, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), Key Informant Interviews (KII) and formal and informal observations. The details of the research instruments including their purpose, number and type of respondents taking part in each process, and sequencing of the instruments are given in Annex 1. The checklists used for each tool are given in Annex 2. We present the study population in Table 1 below:
Table 1: Study Population
No. of Respondents Grand Total SN Instruments India Kuwait Total Kuwait Nepal Total
1 KIIs 14 6 20 5 12 17 37
2 IDIs 20 10 30 8 20 28 58 3 FGDs 4 3 7 (5-6 2 4 6 groups ( of 6- 11 workers) 12 workers) 4 Community 2 2 groups - 2 2 groups 4 groups timeline 5 Network Mapping 4 2 6 4 4 8 14
6 Inter-destination 4 2 6 pairs 4 5 9 pairs (18 14 pairing (12 workers) workers) 7 Case Studies 2 2 4 2 2 4 8 Total interactions 92 workers / 20 key 90 workers / 17 key informants and 18 informants and 12 community community people people
1. Data analysis When permitted by the respondents, all interviews were recorded. In cases when the respondent did not feel comfortable with the recordings (3 from Nepal and 2 from India) detailed notes were taken. The recorded interviews were transcribed. Codes were developed after the detailed study of selected transcripts from the two countries. A common code for both countries was developed after a series of discussions between the two researchers. The remaining interviews were coded based on these common codes. Analysis of the data was done based on the coding.
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2. Ethical considerations All relevant ethical processes have been duly followed. These include seeking consent from the respondents prior to interviews and for recording the interviews, and using pseudonyms or numbers to keep respondents anonymous.
C. Limitations of the study
As the focus of the study was to look at the impact of workers’ networks on labour markets in Kuwait, two facets have been left out of analysis. Firstly, the study does not include analysis of workers’ socio- economic conditions in the receiving or sending countries. Secondly, it did not focus on the impact of social networks on the sending country. Though this study opens avenues for study on both these aspects, for now, it is left for future research.
In the in-country study, there are methodological limitations related to timeframe of the study and the budget. In Nepal, data was not collected in districts other than Jhapa, and hence may not be representative of the whole country. This applies to India as well where we collected data only from Guntur and Kadapa. This gap was partially filled by interviews with prospective and current workers in Kathmandu in Nepal.
CHAPTER III: STUDY FINDINGS
This chapter is divided into three parts. The first part highlights the formal policies in Kuwait that regulate movement of foreign workers, which workers may at times not adhere to completely Instead, they may be relying on informal networks that can be loosely defined as social networks. The second section defines what we mean by social networks for the purpose of this study. The third section of this chapter examines the two different migration corridors examined in this study – one that sends small volumes of workers (Nepal) and another that sends larger volumes of workers (India) – presenting the findings from the study. The chapter ends with an analysis of the impact of social networks among temporary contractual labourers on the Kuwaiti labour market.
A. Policies and regulations determining labour mobility of foreing workers in Kuwait
Labour mobility of temporary workers to Kuwait is determined by the Kuwaiti Labour Law of 1964, which was amended in 2011. The law regulates workers in the private sector. The notion of "labour" in this law applies to labour outside of the household; thus, domestic workers are not included in this definition.
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Box 1: Key laws and conventions governing temporary workers from India and Nepal to Kuwait
1. Kuwait a. Country law Labour Law of Kuwait, 1964 Amendment of Labour Law, 2011 b. International convention related to workers that Kuwait has ratified ILO Convention No 29 on Forced Labour ILO Convention No. 105 on Abolition of Forced Labour ILO Convention 100 on Equal Remuneration, 1951 Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination, 1965 CEDAW, 1979, ILO convention 111 on Discrimination (Employment and Occupation), 1958. 2. Nepal Foreign Employment Act, 1985 Amendment of Foreign employment Act, 2007 Foreign Employment Policy, 2012 3. India Emigration Act 1983
Kuwait had a liberal labour import policy until the mid-1970s with the Kuwaiti government encouraging labour flows into the country with incentives such as high wages and rent-free accommodation. However, after the 1970s, a rise in the number of unemployed nationals juxtaposed against the steep rise in the number of non-nationals in the labour market obliged GCC governments to revise these policies. Hence, like other GCC countries, Kuwait has aimed to indigenize its workforce and curtail the foreign population in its labour market. As a step to achieving this, rules to acquire entry visas to Kuwait have become more stringent6.
The last amendment of the labour law was made in 2011 with an aim to exponentially decrease the number of low-skilled workers in the Kuwaiti labour market. Article 9 of this amendment places the authority to bring in foreign workers with the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM), which lies under the supervision of the Minister of Social Affairs and Labour. Kuwaiti employers are required to follow the procedures stipulated by PAM to recruit foreign workers.
Records show that Nepalis have been going to Kuwait since 1993, while Indians have been travelling to Kuwait for a much longer period. The policies concerning labour mobility have gradually become stricter compared with the law in the 1970s, as shown in the paragraphs above. As most Nepali and Indian workers coming to Kuwait are unskilled, these restrictions have had a significant impact on their employment related decision-making process.
South Asian workers coming to Kuwait are generally accepted under three types of visas. The visas and the conditions are given in Table 2 below:
6 http://www.un.org/esa/population/migration/turin/Symposium_Turin_files/P03_Shah.pdf
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Table 2: Types of Visa available to foreign workers and their families
Type of Workers' Contract duration Labour laws covering Conditions Transfers to other Visa Visas category category Visa 20 Domestic 2 years, but can be Not under any law Can be hired by personal Cannot transfer to any workers renewed indefinitely sponsorship other kind of visa Visa 18 Temporary 2 years, but can be Labour law, 2011 Has to be recruited by a Free to transfer to any (shoon) Contractual renewed indefinitely registered hiring company other kind of visa workers in the private sector Visa 18 Project Depends upon the Labour law, 2011 Has to be recruited by a Can only transfer to other workers duration of the project registered hiring company government project implementing a government project Visa 22 Dependent Depends on residency Labour law, 2011 Must be direct family and Can transfer to any other duration of sponsor sponsor must earn more kind of visa than 450 KD/ month ($ 1500)
To process work permits for foreign workers, the Government of Kuwait has a worker estimation system that sets quotas for each employer. PAM is the government agency mandated to undergo or endorse the estimation process. There are three types of processes for foreign workers estimation, (i) government related project or other specific industries such as hospitals, schools, etc are to undergo their own estimation process and then submit it to PAM for approval, (ii) a number of industries such as malls, central markets, sport centres, etc … receive an estimation from a specialized committee in PAM and are eligible to recruit 100% of the estimated number of foreign workers, (iii) all other industries not listed in the two aforementioned processes also receive an estimation from a specialized committee in PAM but are only eligible to recruit 25% of the estimated number of foreign workers. All those three estimation processes oblige a specific quota for hiring foreign workers for each employer.
B. Defining social network impact on labour mobility to Kuwait
Social networks can loosely be defined as a set of social actors that form a web of group affiliations and interactions that to a great extent determine the relationships among individuals. Social networks are dependent on social structures that underlie such relations and facilitate interactions among actors within these structures. In both the Indian and Nepali contexts, social networks are to a large extent determined by various factors which influence the life course of an individual. These include but are not limited to – caste affiliation, religious affiliation, regional and linguistic association, educational trajectory, or occupational and professional sectors of employment. Moreover, in more recent years, social media has also become a part of creating newer avenues of social networks. In this report, when we refer to social networks we use the term to explain factors that facilitate informal channels of mobility – be it either based on lines of caste, linguistic group, religion, profession , region or nationality – that temporary workers utilize to move from one country to another in search of employment opportunities and enhance their career development. We will also objectively analyze how these social networks may or may not prove beneficial to these individuals, and their countries of origin and destination.
1. How social networks and intermediaries help temporary workers move to Kuwait
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As mentioned in Chapter 1, we take both personal social networks of foreign workers and their families as well as the more formal recruitment agents as social networks. There are many steps involved in the recruitment chain - the first in the ladder are the local village subagents. The subagent can be a returned worker, a hotel-owner, or local money-lender; he or she usually has multi-local livelihoods spanning between the village of origin of the worker to cities like Kathmandu where the processing of the documents is largely carried out. In relation to the worker, this person is often a fellow villager or a relative. They link the worker to the registered recruitment agencies. They are individuals and cannot send the workers by themselves; thus, they are often loosely linked to one or several registered recruitment agencies. However, subagents are not registered with the Governments of India or Nepal nor any authority themselves. The second step on the ladder is the registered recruitment agency based in big cities like Kathmandu or Mumbai, Delhi or Hyderabad. The workers have weaker social networks with these agencies but they are the most important players in the process of finding employment abroad. Both the governments of Nepal and India, as well as the Government of Kuwait have made it mandatory that workers use these registered intermediaries or manpower agencies when gaining foreign employment.
The second type of intermediary is the personal and/or family based social network. These provide stronger ties consisting of family members and friends who may already be in Kuwait. Often this group is valuable because they have prior knowledge of the mobility process through their own experience. These networks supply valuable guidance and advice to aspiring workers. However, only a few of these play a role in in actual facilitation of the bureaucratic process.
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SOCIAL NETWORK EFFECT FROM CORRIDORS SENDING SMALL VOLUMES OF WORKERS: CASE STUDY OF NEPAL
This section presents case study findings from a corridor sending a small volume of workers to Kuwait (Nepal). The first part of the chapter presents an overview of Nepali workers in Kuwait in light of shifting polices. It presents the profile of Nepali workers in Kuwait such as, inter alia, their education levels, mobility experience, and age. This is followed by a brief overview of factors leading Nepali workers to choose Kuwait. The third section describes the type of social networks that workers use in their mobility trajectory. The fourth section gives an analysis of the impact of social networks of Nepali workers on the labour market of Kuwait. The last section presents the analytical conclusion relevant to this labour mobility corridor.
A. An overview of trends of contractual workers' mobility from Nepal to Kuwait
The movement of Nepalis to Kuwait begins with the intensification of globalizing markets and a boom in the Middle East oil industry in the 1970s. This opened the door to labour opportunities for Nepali workers through the GCC. To address the increasing movements of workers, the government of Nepal promulgated the first Foreign Employment Act in 1985 with an aim to regulate movement of Nepalis for foreign employment. The installation of multiparty democracy in Nepal in 1990 ushered in a new wave of migration as this political system kept with the previous government’s decision to liberalise Nepal’s economy and enable freer mobility for work (DoFE, 2013/2014). The Government of Nepal (GoN) began keeping records of Nepali workers going abroad starting in 1993. These records demonstrate that Kuwait was already an attractive destination for Nepalis in 1993 when the first records are available and has gradually increased over the years (Table3).Nepali workers’ mobility intensified during the 10-year civil conflict that began in 1996. Feeling insecure in the rural areas, many young men and women flocked to recruitment agencies seeking foreign employment (Hagen-Zanker et al, 2014).
In spite of this significant exchange of labour, there is no bilateral agreement between the government of Nepal and Kuwait for managing and adjudicating this mobility. However, secondary literature suggests that this gap has been addressed through communications between non-state agents. Several diplomatic visits and bilateral agreements between Kuwaiti organisations and their Nepali counterparts created new paths for Nepali workers to access the Kuwaiti labour market in recent years.
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For low-skilled Nepali workers, Kuwait was a highly sought destination with 36.6 per cent of Nepali foreign workers going to Kuwait in 2013/14. So far, out of 96.97 per cent of Nepali workers gong to the GCC countries since 1993, only 2.1 per cent are in Kuwait. Though Kuwait was until recently understood to be a top destination for female workers, 97.3 per cent of Nepalis who went to Kuwait, since 1993, are male (DoFE, 2013/14).
Table 3: Flow of Nepali workers to Kuwait (2008/9-2014/15)
Fiscal Year Male Female Total
2008-09 1,421 870 2,291
2009-10 6,067 2,188 8,255
2010-11 9,392 5,795 15,187
2011-12 12,080 12,495 24,575
2012-13 15,047 1,382 16,429
2013-14 16,285 860 17,145
2014-2015 June 18,924 1,745 20,669
Total 79,216 25,335 104,551
Source: Compiled by author from DoFE website7
From the Kuwaiti side, estimates differ as to the numbers of Nepali workers present in the country. According to Kuwait’s latest census (CSB, 2011) there were 52,000 Nepali workers in Kuwait in 2011. This makes it 4.34 per cent of the total expatriate population of Kuwait. The Nepal government estimates that there are approximately 60,000 Nepali workers in Kuwait.
1. Profile of Nepali workers in Kuwait
The age of respondent workers in our research ranges from 22 to 50, with a majority of that group falling between 22 and 30. Also among the respondents of the research, in regards to marital status, most female Nepali workers are unmarried, whereas most men are married or tend to marry within a few years after employment abroad. Our community timeline discussion shows that for people of Jhapa, Kuwait was largely known to be a destination for female workers until recently, as demonstrated by the expression below:
"Previously if you say Kuwait, it was for female- what they say – yes for working as housemaids. If you said Kuwait to a man- he would be surprised- What?! Kuwait? What will a man do in Kuwait? That was the thing that happened till around 2-3 years. But now this is not so. A lot of our brothers
7Data includes only for 11 months of each for year 2012, 13 and 14.
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have gone to Kuwait in the last 3-4 years. And the society does not feel the same now." KII with Mr. V. Niraula8, Local sub-agent, Jhapa.
According to the statistics, large numbers of Nepali workers who have come to Kuwait have not completed secondary education; this was further confirmed through our key informant interviews. The second largest group includes those who completed high school. A few workers had university education and two were illiterate. In our sample we also found that workers’ previous occupations in Nepal ranged from lower-level government posts, to teaching, agriculture, construction, petty trade and carpentry.
Regarding the length of their stay in Kuwait, Article 30 of the Kuwaiti labour law specifies that the term of contract work under visa 18 (shoon) should not exceed five years and should not be less than a year. However, the law also grants that once expired, the contract can be renewed upon the consent of both parties. Most Nepali workers tend to stay more than one contractual term. Among the respondents in our study, the longest length of the stay was 21 years and the shortest was 19 months.
Our interview schedule included questions about the previous mobility history of the families and the workers themselves and their access to social networks that might have helped them access the Kuwaiti labour market. Their responses are given in Table 4.
Table 4: Previous personal and family migratory history, among Nepali migrants working in Kuwait, Sample Size = 90
Status of family mobility Yes No 75 15 Has family members moving abroad for work
Has relatives in Kuwait 10 80
Has relatives in other GCC states 65 25
Has personal experience of foreign employment 78 12 Source: Fieldwork, 2015
Our study finds that out of 90 respondents who were working in Kuwait, 15 did not have immediate or extended family members or friends who went abroad for work. Ten respondents had relatives (uncles, cousins) in Kuwait and a majority of others (65) had extended family members working in other GCC states, chiefly Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
An inquiry into respondents’ personal mobility history shows that Nepali workers who come to Kuwait are diverse in terms of their international mobility experience. For twelve workers, Kuwait was their first international destination for work, while others had gone abroad for work to as many as three countries before coming to Kuwait. Job sector profile
8 For ethical reasons, all the names of the respondents have been changed throughout the report.
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2. Employment details Based on information from KIIs, 70% of Nepalis are employed in general labour as physical workers, domestics, and cleaners as shown in Table 6 below. They are hired by cleaning companies and placed in public places like universities, airports, offices, hospitals, and supermarkets.
Table 5: Estimated Distribution of Nepali workforce in Kuwait labour market9
Sector of employment Distribution of Nepali work- Remarks force in Kuwait Non- Trade Work 70% General labour, domestics and cleaners Trade Work 30% Labour in construction sites, security guards, carpenters, scaffolders, salesman and so on
Source: Fieldwork, 2015
The second largest group of Nepali workers in Kuwait comprise what is called “trade work,” which includes labour in construction sites and oil mining areas and supervisors in companies. According to our KIIs, this group also includes 10% who work as drivers, 10% work as security guards, and the remaining 10% who work as carpenters, electricians, scaffolders, salespersons, and storekeepers. A few Nepalis also work as cooks in hotels, helpers in schools, in beauty salons for women and in private houses which operate tailoring businesses. Aside from these occupations, many Nepali men and women are employed in domestic work.
In many of the occupations listed above, very few Nepali workers in the sample interviewed had advanced to supervisory positions or other positions that require more responsibility or oversight. The average salaries of Nepalis working in Kuwait tends to be lower than average salaries for other South Asian nationals for the same work. Of those Nepalis interviewed in our study, salaries in Kuwait ranged from 117 USD to USD 1136 per month. A large majority (85 people, or 94%) earned between 150-and 200 USD per month. The salary was found to increase with experience and length of time in the job. One informant who had worked 19 years in Kuwait told us the following:
"I started with 267 USD per month [as a helper in a petroleum company]. I learned the language and got experience in jobs and subsequent promotions. Now, after 19 years, I earn 340KD (1,136 USD) per month." IDI with Mr T.B. Khabas, Kuwait
Similarly for those who work as housemaids, salaries were found to increase based on employers’ satisfaction with the work and their economic status.
9 These figures are based on estimates provided by key informants
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3. Reasons of Nepali workers for choosing Kuwait as a destination for temporary work
Our study finds that economic and other reasons for migration and work are rooted in social norms. For example, gender and age are significant factors in determining whether migration takes place and for what type of work. As we noted in our conceptual framework, family situation also plays an influential role in labour mobility decisions. Being an elder son, an unmarried daughter, a husband with aging parents and/or children all influence the decision to find work abroad in Kuwait or the GCC, or other destinations. Regular contact with friends who move abroad for work is a common source of influence. Workers on leave bring back stories about the opportunities that are available. Aspiring workers also note the advantages of improved economic well-being or desire to see the “world out there.” For example, among the eleven respondents who were unmarried, six of them said that what they saw on television had inspired them to go. They chose to go pursue an employment opportunity in Kuwait even though they had job opportunities in the country as noted in the quote below:
“Respondent: Yeah, the visa came. There was a job offer in Nepal, and my business was picking up really good. Of the three options I had, I chose to go abroad.” Interviewer: Why did you do that? Respondent: For me it was the world I would see on the TV channels – the buildings, the roads and cars, the way of life – would I be able to see all of that in my lifetime? No matter what, I will go abroad at least once in my life- this was the reason." IDI with Mr S. Baral, Kuwait.
Figure 1 shows the reasons expressed by the workers for choosing Kuwait, as opposed to other possible destinations. However, we would like to emphasize that workers are pulled by more than one reason.
Figure 1: Reasons for choosing Kuwait among Nepali temporary workers, n = 90
Reasons for chosing Kuwait
Not particular about destination Advised by brokers Less cost and processing time Family connection
Source: Fieldwork, 2015
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A large majority (58 of the 90 workers – 64%) were not particular about their destination and applied to manpower agencies for going abroad, to whichever destination becomes available. In such cases, the agent tells them the destination as demand arises.
“I just gave my passport to the manpower. He told me there was demand from Kuwait. I had already taken loan to pay the manpower. I wanted to be out of the country as soon as possible. So I came here."- IDI with Mr U. Khatiwada, Kuwait.
11 of our respondents chose Kuwait for work because they had family connections living there.
“My brother-in-law was in Kuwait. So I chose Kuwait because he would help me if I fell in any problems." IDI with Mr. P. Rai, Kathmandu.
42 of our respondents (47%) chose Kuwait because apart from other reasons, the migration cost is relatively lower.
"Other places like Korea and Japan [you] need more money. Also the cost is less to go to Kuwait than other Gulf countries. For example, going to Kuwait costs only 250,000 NRP (USD 2500)." IDI with Mrs. S. Bhusal, Jhapa.
For others, the short processing time was the reason for choosing Kuwait as shown below:
“I came across the Kuwait job offer in a paper – 367 USD, room and board provided, it said. I thought, why not? And then went to the manpower company to get the details. They said the visa would come within fifteen to twenty days, no more than that. It was an easy decision for me.” IDI with Mr B. Khatiwada, Kuwait
Hearing stories about malfeasance or non-delivery of work also discourages workers from one country to another.
Interviewer: You were thinking of going to Korea? Respondent: Not really, but my big brother, who is a Nepal Bank manager in Butwal, wanted me to go to Korea. People from Butwal were making good money in Korea then, but two or four people lost their money, a lot of money, to a manpower agency in Korea. So we agreed to stop thinking [about] the idea of going abroad for a while." IDI with Mr P. Bista, Kuwait.
Key informants from the recruitment agencies are of the opinion that Kuwait is a relatively better destination among GCC countries, but less desirable than Bahrain or Dubai. This was also reiterated by the workers who said they received this advice from the brokers. Brokers generally believe that work is more plentiful in Kuwait and the work environment better. Exchange rate to Nepali currency is better in Kuwait which also pulls workers there.
Respondent: Broker said work was good in Kuwait. He said that the environment in Saudi was not good, but Kuwait was quite okay. He told us that it is easier to find work in Kuwait. IDI with Mr T. Saud, prospective worker, Kathmandu
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B. The Process Determining Labour Mobility to Kuwait and the Role of Intermediaries and Social Networks
In this section we describe the role of social networks for workers travelling to Kuwait, explain why workers rely on informal networks and critically reflect if intermediaries and social networks have played a role in creating pathways to Kuwait.
1. Role of intermediaries and social networks in labour mobility to Kuwait
The study finds that workers go through formal and informal social networks or use a combination of both. Nepalis usually acquire four types of visa for Kuwait through social networks. First, they can apply to join family in Kuwait and must show proof of that relationship (visa 22). Second, a Kuwaiti house-owner who already employs a Nepali can ask that employee to bring someone for work. In such cases, the owner sends the visa to the prospective worker if the current worker recommends someone (visa 20). Third, a worker may arrive via visa trade where a Nepali buys a visa from a Kuwaiti household to bring his relatives to Kuwait – also visa 20.
Regarding the first option, to obtain visa 22, one has to show proof of blood or marital relationship to the sponsor of the visa. This can be acquired from local authorities in Nepal. This case is very rare. We found only one case of 90 respondents had brought his wife. Most workers in our study could not bring their family to work as they do not earn the minimum salary to be legally allowed have such option. Even if they do, they choose not to bring them. The sentiment is better explained by a quote from a worker who has stayed in Kuwait for a long time.
"But I am working hard for their wellbeing, I would not like to bring my old father or get my children out of school to do the same work here.” IDI with Mr. T. Wasti, Kuwait.
The second option is used by workers going for domestic work such as women going to work as housemaids and men working as tailors, private drivers and houseboys running household errands. In this case, the household owner in Kuwait sponsors the visa and the ticket to the prospective worker directly. Hence the worker does not need to go to the recruitment agencies. This was a popular option until six years ago when the GoN banned workers going for domestic work on their own. However, as GoK recognises this visa, the prospective worker can acquire it through their friends or family members. These workers then use a third country from which to fly to Kuwait (usually India as well as, more recently, Sri- Lanka) instead of a Nepali airport in order to avoid being caught. From the KIIs, we established that only 10-12% workers come through informal agents. .
This second option is also linked to "visa trading" where households import workers from Nepal and sell the worker with the visa to other households within their networks. The sponsoring households use their social linkages to obtain a visa for their workers. As recruitment on visa 20 is banned by GoN, the workers remain undocumented with the Nepalese government and will not have access to any facilities given by GoN. However they are documented in the GoK.
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The third option for obtaining work visas has become more common in the last five years when the GoN closed opportunities for the second option. This third option is used by Nepalis who are better off in Kuwait and who can afford to buy visas from Kuwaiti households. In this case, a Nepali living in Kuwait purchases visas for other Nepalis who want to work in Kuwait. The seller is a Kuwaiti household who uses Kuwaiti contacts to obtain these visas. The buyer of the visa receives a Type 20 visa, and sends it to the prospective worker (usually a relative) in Nepal but the relatives are not obligated to work for that private household; they can illegally pursue other employment options. Of our respondents, Nepalis in Kuwait were found to pay between USD 2700 and USD 4000 to a Kuwaiti household to obtain such a visa.
"The household was my sister's client. She asked them if they could get her a visa and she would pay them. They said yes and my sister bought the visa. She sent it to me and I came. The man from the house came to pick me up and dropped me at my sister's place. I did not have to work as a maid there because my sister had bought it from them." IDI with Ms. K. BK, returnee worker, Kathmandu.
Because employment opportunities are more plentiful for men, they prefer coming through formal channels – such as company arrangements (Visa 18 - Shoon). In the case of companies sponsoring individual visas, there were mixed reactions about if a company actually hires people through social networks. A majority of respondents were of the opinion that visas can be difficult to obtain by individuals. Companies prefer to hire in blocks, bringing over several people at a time as it is expensive for the company to bring one or two workers at a time as shown by a response below:
"Also the company does not pay the worker who is based in Kuwait to bring one or two workers because it is costly for the company to do so." IDI with Mr. B. Khatiwada, Kuwait.
Apart from obtaining visas directly, prospective workers use informal networks for two purposes. Firstly, prospective workers coming to Kuwait (or other countries) for the first time use unregistered local sub- agents to link them to the formal recruitment agencies. Secondly, since the ban on recruitment from Nepal for domestic work, female migrants use local subagents to go around the government restrictions to come to Kuwait.
Aside from these informal processes used to reach Kuwait, intermediaries and social networks can play a significant role in work trajectories of workers in other ways that will be discussed later in the report. Before this, we present a brief analysis of why workers use informal social networks rather than going through a registered recruitment agency.
2. Why Nepali workers prefer social networks over formal recruitment agencies? . The study finds that workers go through formal and informal social networks or use a combination of both. Arranging the move through a formal recruitment agency is mandatory for Nepali workers due to the new regulations set by the GoN as discussed earlier. In this section, we show when and why workers may use informal social networks.
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Workers use social networks for three purposes- firstly to get a visa, secondly to link them to the registered agents, and thirdly, in the case of domestic workers, to come to Kuwait illegally (violating the restrictions of the Government of Nepal).
The primary reason for using social networks and not registered agents for getting visas, is the cheaper cost and higher degree of reliability. Recruitment agencies as well as the unregistered brokers in the villages charge a prospective worker exorbitantly in the name of giving them visas, tickets and other documents. When the visas are sent by their family members or friends, workers do not have to pay charges for the visa or tickets. Furthermore, in such cases the family members will have arranged the job, which makes it less likely that the worker will be cheated.
There are several reasons why prospective workers use unregistered sub-agents or brokers to manage the move to Kuwait. These reasons most often overlap with each other rather than act in isolation.
Lack of knowledge of the procedures for migration: Most of the workers originate in rural areas and are not highly educated. They do not have the necessary knowledge and confidence to approach the formal system which they consider as quite complex. Because there are a number of institutions involved, they would eventually spend more money running from one institution to another. Moreover, even when they are educated, there is a fear that there may be lapses which may lead to rejection of their visa or work permit. Hence, they prefer to approach the local brokers who are mostly their fellow neighbours or relatives and who have the experience to do the basic paperwork for them. Usually first-time migrants use these unregistered local brokers while those who have previous migration experience are more likely to contact the registered recruitment agency directly.
Help with language: Besides the reason mentioned above, for workers who come from the Southern plains of Nepal, Nepali is not the mother tongue. They may not be comfortable interacting in Nepali with the recruitment agencies and other relevant offices whose work-language is Nepali. Hence, they use local brokers to help them liaise with these agencies and offices.
To help in illegal recruitment: This is typical in the case of Type 20 visas for female domestic workers. As mentioned, the GoN has banned migration for domestic work recently. In light of this ban, formal recruitment agents are reluctant to help women domestic workers in the migration process. In such cases, women usually use unregistered brokers to help them migrate illegally.
Easy accessibility: A large majority of prospective Nepali workers reside in remote rural areas where formal recruitment agencies are not present. For these workers, the cost of travel and stay in Kathmandu which would be required to do the paperwork becomes very high. They also likely do not know
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any recruitment agencies in the capital. Since the local brokers are easily available in their own villages, prospective workers choose these brokers to do the work for them instead. These brokers link prospective workers to the formal recruitment agencies only when it is absolutely necessary. Besides this, local brokers themselves approach women such as those who have difficulties in the household and who could potentially pursue employment abroad. Such women do not know the difference between the unregistered brokers and the registered agents. The brokers also help them with the initial cost of recruitment fees if required by providing loans and making preliminary documents such as passports.
Trust: Trust is a critical aspect of the prospective worker-unregistered agent relationship. Since local brokers come from the same community or are distant relatives, prospective workers tend to trust them more than they do the formal system. Despite warnings by government and advocacy groups, workers take huge risks when the brokers ask them to. This risk taking comes from the confidence that, in case of any problems in the destination, it is more convenient for their families back home to approach these brokers than the manpower agencies where they do not know anyone. Hence they prefer to use the local brokers.
Circumvent rules and mandatory procedures: Apart from the above-mentioned reasons, brokers help eager prospective workers to circumvent rules. For example, prospective workers who are below 18 years of age and hence not allowed to migrate for work use brokers to make fake documents. Similarly, brokers provide prospective workers with certificates of the mandatory orientation training without the workers actually taking the training. The training is in Kathmandu and workers find it cost-effective to pay the brokers and get the certificate in the village itself. Brokers are also known to produce fake medical certificates or find ways to get work permits for workers who fail the mandatory medical test.
3. Creating a pathway to Kuwait: Chain mobility and the role of intermediaries and social networks
The study finds that chain mobility is influenced both by conditions in origin as well as in destination. From Nepal’s side, particularly during the civil war, Nepali families were found to have played an important role in pushing contractual workers to India and the GCC for employment.
Respondent: “I went to Dubai in 2003. I had no work experience at that time. We were going through war and my parents suggested me to work abroad to secure my life. My father took me to the manpower company and introduced me."
The movement to all GCC countries increased in general during this time. Back then, family members and friends who had been to GCC countries could sponsor visas to aspiring workers back home. As more and more Nepalis found work and income, this began encouraging more Nepalis back home to move abroad. Numbers grew gradually during this period.
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Our study finds that first-time workers use their personal and household social network to inquire about the mobility process quite frequently. Nepalis in Kuwait often talked about regular communication they have with their friends back in Nepal who ask about the working conditions and visa process as shown below.
Interviewer: So, do others also contact you to know about working in Kuwait? Has someone called you to know about the work? Respondent: Yes, people call and contact me. But I say that if the salary is just 60 Kuwaiti Dinar(200 USD) then it is useless to come to Kuwait because you do not get a raise in salary with time and that amount is not enough to live today’s expensive life. Interviewer: What do they usually ask you about? Respondent: They usually ask about the visa procedure and salary. – IDI with Mr. K.Kaphle, Kuwait.
However, for second time workers, they use the recruitment agency directly. Because of their experience, they are able to discuss with the recruitment agencies about the types of job, remuneration and other facilities and choose the destination where there is demand for their skills.
"When they migrate to a new destination again, the workers do not consult much with their networks. They approach the manpower agencies directly and ask everything. They also negotiate about the costs.” KII with Mr L.B. Lama, representative from recruitment agency, Kathmandu.
This sentiment is echoed by several contractual workers:
Interviewer: Did your friends help you for this job? Respondent: No, they didn’t help me in searching this job. I came here through selection. I didn’t consult them for the job. I figured out that this job was suitable for me. So, I tried here. IDI with Mr B Poudel, Kuwait.
These comments and others like them attest to the way social networks contribute to a flow of information. However, as workers become more exposed to the process, they utilize more standard procedures. This means that informal social networks in such cases have less leverage to influence chain mobility once the migration cycle matures.
The next step in the process of moving out is processing the documents. Even including those who were educated and had travelled to other GCC countries before, all foreign workers we talked with had used intermediaries to process their documents. All the processing is completed by the recruitment agencies or the unregistered local broker.
Respondent: He made everything. I had to pay NPR 110,000 (USD 1,100)." IDI with Mr CR Limbu, Kuwait.
In such cases workers use both registered recruitment agencies as well as local agents from their villages to process the documents. While close friends and family networks influence their decision to go for temporary work, it is largely at the document processing phase that workers decide on the destination. The destination always depends upon the demand from the destination country and it is these
29 recruitment agencies or the local brokers that provide them information about which country has requested Nepali workers and for which jobs.
Though these intermediaries can influence the workers’ choice of destination, they cannot influence the demands of the company. Key informants from the recruitment agency as well as Nepali sub-agents working in Kuwait expressed that their social networks in Kuwait were ineffective in terms of influencing the number of Nepali workers needed in Kuwait.
C. Role of Social Networks in Job Placement
This section describes the process of obtaining a job in Kuwait, the selection process, the creation of positions, and how social networks of Nepali workers can play a role in these processes.
1. Obtaining a job
Jobs are typically arranged prior to a worker’s arrival in Kuwait by the same recruitment agencies that assist with obtaining a visa and work permit. These intermediaries connect prospective workers to the companies that hire them directly. Only in very rare cases (8-10% of the time)—such as for cleaners or domestics—do these recruitment agencies send the worker to placement agencies in Kuwait. In all other cases, the worker has the job arranged before leaving Nepal.
Despite official regulations, workers also utilize informal channels for obtaining work. The aforementioned social networks of friends and family provide the fundamental amount of social capital necessary for manoeuvring within the system. Ideally, friends and family provide information about vacant positions which is critical to job seekers. Nepalis who have stayed in Kuwait for a long time (in our sample, more than 20 years) are often asked by their supervisors if they can find Nepalis to recruit. This happens usually when the company needs only a few workers, and when the company wants to recruit workers who are already in Kuwait rather than incur the expenses of bringing them from the origin country.
In such cases, the Nepali supervisor will often post the request on social media outlets, such as Facebook, to inform a larger group of Nepalis about the available jobs. It is then up to the worker to approach the company and see if the company finds him or her eligible for the work at hand.
Respondent: Sometimes I'm asked to forward their CVs. They go over them and interview them. If they pass, they are kept. – IDI with Mr B. Karki, Kuwait
If the company has unfilled quotas for foreign labour and there is a demand for more workers, then a Nepali in the company can ask his supervisor if he can help to bring a person to the company. However, in such cases the supervisor cannot make the decision unilaterally; they often must consult with a higher management team to complete the hiring. This shows that a potential worker needs more than a social network to get hired. Finding work also depends upon the strength of social capital within a worker’s
30 network. Our study finds that most Nepalis work in the lower rung of the labour market, and thus they must almost always go through their supervisors to recommend hires.
Respondent: No, it is not like that. The reality is that the people who are in higher posts are not Nepali; they are usually from Bangladesh, or India or Egypt. So we can only go up to the supervisor to request – IDI with Mr. G. Tamang, Kuwait
Figure 2: Workers’ opinion on if friends and family members can place Nepalis in jobs, n = 90
Workers'opinion on if friends and families can place Nepalis in jobs
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Cannot Bring
Can bring 77
Given the complex procedure, there were mixed opinions on whether social networks of friends and families could place Nepalis in jobs in Kuwait as shown in Figure 3. A majority of our respondents (77 out of 90 – 86%) said it was not possible for various reasons:
Interviewer: Suppose there is a vacancy, an opening, in the company. Can you talk to your superiors and bring someone you know from Nepal for the vacancy? Respondent 3: No, not possible. Must go for an interview. Respondent 7: This hasn't happened so far. Respondent 4: They don't bring one, or two – they bring a whole lot at a time after interviews. Maybe the superiors might do something like this but we don't know. – FGD with current workers, Kuwait
The other (13) respondents said it was possible in some cases that a company would issue a visa on a personal request:
Interviewer: Can you recommend your friends in Nepal for jobs in your company to the manager? Respondent: Yes, it is possible if the quota for foreign workers is not full. Suppose there are 50 Nepalese workers allocated for a company and all posts are full, I cannot bring anyone from Nepal. But if the quota is vacant, I can recommend my friends and company issues the visa. In that case I have to be responsible to the sponsor if that person does something wrong. Interviewer: What percentage of companies does that? Respondent: Very few… only 10% of companies issue the visa on personal request. – IDI with Mr L.P. Rai, Kuwait.
Our study finds that visas on personal request are issued only for jobs such as cleaners and helpers where
31 the workers can learn the job in the company and the work does not require technical skills beforehand. This is because the company does not want to take risks in investing in visas for positions which require workers to have basic skills.
For domestic work, female respondents said that because they live in the house, if they are well liked, they can request their employer to inquire if anyone in their networks is in need of housemaids. If the sponsor is willing they may invite their friends and relatives from Nepal. However, it depends upon the sponsor's interest ultimately, and respondents were of the opinion that only 1-2 people out of 10 workers might have arrived through such networks. The case was similar for beauty salons. Beauty salons are privately owned and if a Nepali employee has a good relationship with the owner, the owner might sponsor a visa. In both cases, the employer in Kuwait would approach the former employee if the new worker goes against the rule of the household or company respectively.
However, our study finds that it was relatively easier to place Nepalis who were already in Kuwait in a different job through social networks. We call this "Illegal Job hopping” and describe it in detail later in the report.
Interviewer: Can you search for a job for others through your links? Respondent: No, that is not possible. We cannot bring our relatives from Nepal but we can help those who are in trouble here. We have searched jobs for those victims. – IDI with Mr. S. Baral, Kuwait.
Many workers expressed hesitation at the prospect of using their social capital to help prospective Nepalis find work in Kuwait. For one, the Nepali who requests the visa for another would have to stay as the local guarantee for the company. This made the requester quite vulnerable if the new worker was not sincere or hard-working. Second, Nepalis in Kuwait felt life that the social norms in Kuwait were quite different to Nepal, and they did not want to lure fellow Nepalis with the fear that they will not be able to adapt. Third, many respondents were reluctant to bring Nepalis over because they would be obligated to manage the support for the recruited workers’ initial days in Kuwait as well as respond to any concerns of the recruited worker over the course of employment. Many felt this was too much responsibility to bear.
Though it is exceptionally difficult to find positions through social networks in Kuwait for Nepalis who are still in Nepal, workers already in Kuwait have used their social networks to land work in Kuwait. Current workers in Kuwait can point prospective workers in the right direction, such as the recruitment agencies that their company is using to hire Nepali workers. Beyond that, the worker can prepare the prospective workers for interviews and assist with negotiating the process within that recruitment agency.
Besides this, respondents in Kuwait are active users of the internet and shared that they regularly keep in touch with a large social circle both in Kuwait and Nepal as well as in other GCC countries. They put information about vacancies on Facebook for aspiring workers rather than referring each worker to the company.
Respondent: Many companies ask me to find them 4 or 5 people for this category, or that. I immediately put it in Facebook saying, “Look, I've been contacted by this person from this
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company. If you are capable, get in touch”. And off they go, running, to the company. IDI with Mr B. Karki, Kuwait.
Besides this, respondents also mentioned looking for vacancy information on websites like Gulfjobs.com and Naukarigulf.com. Workers in Kuwait often have more information about the vacancy in Kuwait than those living in Nepal, and they can inform their friends and relatives in Nepal.
Respondent: I told my brother-in-law about my interest to work abroad. He told his brother-in-law who was in Kuwait. At the same time, the representative from his company was in Nepal taking interviews. My brother-in-law gave me contact information to the manpower agency they were working with and told me to take my documents. I went to the same company with my documents and applied. – Respondent from FGD, Kuwait.
2. Role of social networks in the selection process
Our study finds that for non-trade sector employment such as employment of domestic workers, private drivers and so on, specialized knowledge and skills are less important prerequisites, and thus social networks may play more of a role in landing a job. The skill test criteria is given in Box 3 below. A prospective employer expects that such skills can be learned on the job and, except for a physical assessment of the worker, these employers do not have a rigorous selection process. The selection of such workers is also largely left to the company in Nepal. In such cases, social networks in Nepal and Kuwait can play a role in helping prospective workers get selected.
Respondent: Yes, in the case of cleaners and helpers if you know the person from your company who is going [as a recruiter to Nepal], you can tell him or your supervisor. He will then write the name and take it to Nepal and that person will be selected. – IDI with Mr B Poudel, Kuwait.
Key informants are of the opinion that between 8 and 10 per cent of those who come to Kuwait as domestic workers may have been selected in this way.
Interviewer: So what kind of qualification do you look for when you employ people? Respondent: No, actually for the cleaners, qualification is not necessary. We only look for normal people who can work. – SGD with managers of cleaning company, Kuwait.
Box 3: Skill test for prospective workers
Non trade sector:
No specific skill test. Selected by Nepali agents
Trade sectors: Practical test for desired skills, previous experience. English language competency 33for supervisors.
Selection done by representative of the hiring company
Source: Fieldwork, 2015
However, as noted earlier from the KIIs, workers employed in non-trade sectors such as cleaners, housemaids and helpers make up 70-80% of the overall Nepali workforce in Kuwait.
The selection process is stricter for trade sector jobs such as foremen, carpenters, painters, and scaffolders. Even though there no standard occupation skill testing and certification system, candidates are required to prove both their qualifications and practical skills on an ad hoc basis. The selection is usually done by the representative of the company who is not related to the worker. Thus, social networks play an indirect and a greatly diminished role in the selection of these people, as indicated in the quote below:
Respondent: Issuing a visa through links basically applies in non-trade. For trade, you should be sure that person who you have recommended knows the work perfectly. – IDI with Mr P.K . Poudel, Kuwait.
The selection process for managerial positions requires candidates to submit their experience-related documents. There are interviews regarding their education, their computer skills, language (largely English), their prior experience, and their experience in GCC countries. They do not have to show proof of medical fitness at this stage. Generally, those who have experience working in GCC countries are given priority and higher salaries. These jobs are usually advertised separately as they require experience. Hence social networks have very little influence if the candidate is not qualified for the job.
All jobs except for domestic work require some form of preliminary vetting by the recruitment agency. For posts such as painters and carpenters, prospective workers have to go through oral and practical tests. The final tests for such positions are done by representatives of the company from Kuwait.
Respondent: Yes, for carpenter. I went for the interview. The interviewer was an engineer from this company, I didn't understand his language. [He] gave me a piece of wood, told me to cut it, which I did. Next told me to install hinges on a door and gave me pencils and tools; I showed him how it was done.
In the next room I was asked to demonstrate the use of a level. A Level is a carpenter tool to establish a true vertical and a true horizontal. He was satisfied, and said okay. – FGD with workers, Kuwait.
Prior to these practical tests, the preliminary examination for all categories of work is done by the recruitment office in Kathmandu, which is responsible for supplying workers for firms in Kuwait. Recruitment agencies are also sometimes given the majority of the responsibility of selecting workers for
34 jobs like cleaners and domestic workers. Interviews for supervisors and foremen are generally conducted in English. For others, the interviews proceed in Hindi or Nepali with the help of translators.
Interviews with key informants as well as workers revealed that trade sector workers would go through a basic skills test, and is then trained for additional required skills for the job. This is because work in Nepal is largely manual whereas work in Kuwait is done with machines. Hence, the workers are generally placed in in-house trainings for the initial phases of the work while they acquire the needed skills.
Respondent: A good aspect of Gulf work is that workers who go for masonry or carpentry also receive in-house training. The training they take here is fruitful because of the difference in technology. We hardly have seen ten-floor buildings and they need to work on the 70th floor sometimes. – KII with K. Tamang, recruitment agency representative.
Those who work as security guards are required to complete a 8-10 day training in Kuwait before engaging in their work. The content of the trainings includes general local security issues of Kuwait as well as knowing how to report security concerns in Arabic. These trainings are given by the company after they hire the workers. Similarly, upon entering employment, drivers are also given trainings on local driving regulations in Kuwait.
Cleaners are not given any training and it is expected that they will learn on-the-job. They are kept as apprentices for a few days with more experienced workers.
Respondent 6: Yes, there is an orientation of sorts, where older workers are mixed with the new ones – to show how it is here and to familiarize [the new workers] with the work and tools. Mostly we watch and learn; there is no formal training. It is same now. Some we do on our own, some we do together. – FGD with workers, Kuwait.
While the GoN has made it mandatory for all workers to take orientation trainings before they engage in foreign employment in GCC countries, most workers do not take those trainings and use brokers to get a certificate. This has negative ramifications for the workers, particularly for domestic workers who receive no other opportunities for training. There is no skill test prior to recruitment of domestic workers in private households. Most of the women are from rural areas, and illiterate or semi-literate. Often the way they do their household and care work is very different from what is expected of them in their jobs abroad. For example, domestic workers often do not know how to operate household appliances, such as ovens and washing machines, or how to take care of children in local ways. They also do not know the Arabic language and it generally takes them about six months to learn basic communication.
4. Role of social networks in creating positions in labour market
Our study finds that very few Nepalis occupy managerial positions in Kuwait and thus have low potential to create positions and/or add new employees to the company. Nepalis’ interactions are generally limited
35 to their supervisors and peers. Even when they interact with supervisors who are not Nepali, the relations are strictly professional:
Respondent: We do not interact with supervisors so much and whenever we interact it is solely at a professional level. That doesn’t mean we have cold relations with our supervisors. But that also does not mean he will make a position for someone we want to bring. – FGD with male workers, Kuwait.
Respondents believed that when human resources are needed, the supervisors will be the first to notice. Hence, workers cannot request to the supervisors to add new people. Only the most experienced workers said they felt confident enough to make those types of suggestions to their supervisors. However, there is a high turnover rate among supervisors, so building those long-term relationships with supervisors can be difficult.
Interviews with the supervisors confirmed this issue. They revealed that if they feel they want additional personnel, they would be required to inform the human resource department of their company. The department would then hold a meeting with different mangers to decide if more workers are needed.
Interviewer: Can Nepalis use their influence to create a job for someone? Respondent: No, I haven’t seen or heard anything like that neither in Kuwait nor in Malaysia. See the people who maybe can influence such kind of activities are higher level officers who have the power, but they are usually occupied by Indians and Bangladeshi or people from other Arab countries. Nepali people do not have that kind of power. – FGD with current workers, Kathmandu. So, while social networks of Nepali workers are useful for getting information about the jobs for those who are already in Kuwait, they provide little assistance in helping Nepalis create more available positions for fellow Nepalis.
D. Utilizing Old or New Social Networks after Moving to Kuwait
This section describes how social networks are made after moving to Kuwait and the impact of social networks after arriving in Kuwait. It discusses if/what forms of networks exist between the Nepali workers in Kuwait and if/how they are used as capital in the work and life trajectory of workers in the Kuwaiti labour market.
1. Making new networks in Kuwait
New social networks of Nepalis consist of new networks formed with the local population, with nationals from other countries and the fellow Nepalis whom workers meet during their time in Kuwait. The general sentiment regarding their social life is captured in the quote below:
Respondent: The only interaction I have with a fellow Nepali there is someone who is in my shift and the one who I share the room with. Even with that we sometimes have duty at different times so we are back in our rooms at different times, so even with your own room partners it’s difficult
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to interact. Also another thing is that we all return back so tired after our work that it gets difficult for us. – FGD with current workers, Kuwait.
This shows that, among other things, their social activity is very limited. Below we analyse our findings of the making of new social networks by Nepali workers in Kuwait. Networking with the native population While various strands of transnational mobility research explain in different ways in which workers assimilate into their respective regions, our study finds the existing research does not explain or apply to the experience of temporary Nepali workers in Kuwait. Nepali workers in Kuwait neither achieve parity with native populations nor have any capacity to alter the host society. Our study finds that, due to their generally lower social and economic standing, as well as policy- and work-related constraints, temporary workers have little interaction with Kuwaitis, a key prerequisite for assimilation and building social capital. Respondent: Kuwaitis are owners of our company. The only Kuwaitis we see are the large portraits of the owner in the office room when we go there. I have been in this office for three and half years but I have never seen the owner, let alone talked to him. – IDI with Mr. B Poudel, Kuwait.
Apart from this, the fact that temporary workers are not able to meet the minimum salary threshold to bring families to Kuwait means there is no second-generation diasporic process of building networks with Kuwaitis, through for instance occupying inhabiting common arenas for socialization, such as schools, where families could build relationships with Kuwaitis. The growing number of malls in Kuwait could have been a site of interaction, but we found two reasons why this did not occur: First, the settlements of these temporary workers both in terms of location as well as the buildings themselves are segmented from the native population. Secondly, Nepali workers were found to visit malls and sit in parks only during holidays. When Nepali workers did go to the mall, they favoured less famous ones, where goods were more affordable and where South Asian foods were sold. This limited any chance of interaction with the native population in these settings.
Except for a few workers we met who were active in diaspora organizations, the majority of workers tend to think of their experience in Kuwait as a short term venture. There tends to be little concern about assimilating with Kuwaiti society. Even workers who have spent more than a decade in Kuwait tend not to take part in the larger activities of Kuwaiti society.
Respondent: I am 45 years old now. I have worked here [in Kuwait] for the last 21 years. I am working here because my son is studying. …………. I will go back as soon as my son gets a job and is able to take responsibility for the family.” – IDI with Mr P.K. Rai, current worker, Kuwait
Another returning worker expressed a similar sentiment when we asked him why a large number of workers do not take advantage of trainings in order to secure job promotions in Kuwait.
Respondent: I think this is because, for a large majority, it is about short-term earnings there to send money to the family. All of them think of coming back after a certain amount of time or going
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to another country. People think of Kuwait as short term and so do not spend in taking trainings. IDI with Mr P. Tamang, Kuwait.
Beyond all these reasons for resisting assimilation, many Nepali workers said the striking difference between their own and Kuwaiti culture and daily life discouraged them from thinking long term, in terms of residence and assimilation.
Networking with workers from other nationalities Our study found that Nepalis, to a certain extent, interact with people of other nationalities who work with them. The existence of networks with workers of other nationalities was found to depend upon the position of the workers involved in the association. For example, cleaners and helpers generally interact less with workers from other countries. Those in higher positions like supervisor have broader networks of cross-national associations. When Nepalis did report cross-national relationships, they tended to be with workers from other South Asian countries, mostly Bangladeshi, Indian, Sri Lankan and Pakistani. In this case the Hindi language, which most Nepali workers can speak, is also a binding force. Besides this, Nepalis who work as supervisors were found to associate with other supervisors from Egypt, and engineers from China, Vietnam and Korea. All such networks are either work-related or related to membership in religious associations. To a large extent, these affiliations are built in work places and are also confined to work-hours. Workers said that they are not allowed to use Facebook and mobile phones while at work. Hence virtual networking happens during out-of-work hours. These networks are not strong bonding networks like those with kith and kin but are very important in migrants’ work trajectory, as will be described in later sections.
Our study finds that religious organizations provided another valuable network for Nepali workers. In the case of Kuwait, Christian Nepalis benefited from their ability to be associated with Christian workers from other countries, with whom they met every Sunday for services. As non-Nepalis who participate in these associations tend to be in higher positions than Nepalis, respondents reported that this network was very useful in obtaining new jobs when workers left old ones. In such cases, the person could refer the Nepali to his or her manager friends and help him or her get a job.
Establishing new networks with Nepalis in Kuwait The new networks of Nepali workers in Kuwait tend to emerge from three main sources: 1. Associations arising out of membership with a formal diaspora organization 2. Associations related to religious organizations 3. Associations related to ethnic similarities, work, and leisure clubs
From a social capital perspective (Granovetter, 1985), the latter two realms can be seen as more formal and loosely "bonding," while the first provides a stronger binding capital.
The Nepali Diaspora organization Non-Resident Nepali Association (NRNA) maintains its head office for the GCC region in Kuwait. It actively engages with the Nepali embassy on issues of worker safety and
38 helping destitute workers. However, workers are only a part of its activities and, as in cases of other countries like Saudi Arabia, there is no independent Non-Resident Nepali Service Centre dedicated solely to supporting workers there. Ideally, the diaspora organization helps the workers in contacting the embassy, provides support with travel documents, obtains access to shelters provided by the Kuwaiti government, and, on occasion, purchases tickets for workers to return home. However, as with other diasporic organizations, the NRNA in Kuwait works for welfare activities of the workers and we did not find evidence of the NRNA influencing Nepali workers’ inflow to Kuwait or instances in which it may have influenced placement of those workers already in Kuwait in jobs.
Regarding workers’ affiliation with the diaspora organization, a large majority of the workers were not utilizing its services. Most of them did not know the organization’s whereabouts and were not keen to obtain membership or participate in the group. We found that workers knew generally very little about the organization’s activities and/or responsibilities:
Respondent: I do not know any Nepali groups. I don’t have time for participating in such groups. I try to work as much as possible because I am here to earn for my family. In the little leisure time I have, I need to cook and clean and take rest. I am very tired after that and have very little time for rest anyways.— IDI with Mr P Shah, Kuwait
We found that hometown associations like clubs do exist (for example, the Mount Everest Sporting Club), cultural forums (for example, the Laliguras cultural centre), and ethnic societies (for example, Thakuri Samaj). Workers were however rarely members of the clubs. Active members shared that these groups act as an information bridge between the Nepali embassy and Nepali workers.
There are many different Nepali Samaj groups in Kuwait but very few people use that channel to go to the embassy. – IDI with Mr B. Shah, Kuwait.
Religious organizations provided another valuable network to Nepali workers. In the case of Kuwait, Christian Nepalis benefited from their ability to associate with Christian workers from Nepal with whom they met every Sunday for services. This later developed into strong bonding networks which workers capitalised on in many ways. For example, “runaway workers” received shelter and food. Workers who do not have jobs get information about positions and linkages to supervisors of companies. Among the three forms of association, workers in this group reported the most assistance.
Our study finds several factors that discourage workers from actively networking with other Nepali workers in Kuwait. For one, there are no formal occasions which bring these workers together. For another, respondents said the long work hours and focus on earnings drew attention away from the potential value of those groups:
Respondent: I rarely go out because if you go out you have to spend some money and I want to save as much as I can. So, I stay in my room and wash my clothes, sleep, rest, use Facebook on my phone but everything inside my room. – FGD with current workers, Kuwait.
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Finally, ethnic and language differences between different groups of Nepalis also create a barrier to potential associations:
Respondent: See out there for us Madhesis, initially it is very hard to interact because the [hill] Nepali assume that we are Indians and the Indians know that we are Nepali so our circle gets even smaller. – FGD with current workers, Kathmandu.
However, despite these barriers, many Nepalis did speak about the potential of forming stronger networks with fellow Nepalis, and they recognized that Kuwaiti society provided possible spaces for those meetings:
Respondent: Kuwait is a small country and not difficult to meet people from one city to another. So many Nepalis know one another. – KII with Mr B. Khadka, Kuwait.
E. Role of Social Network in Promotion, Salary Increases and other Incentives
Regarding the use of intra-country networks for access to jobs and other facilities, we found mixed results, as shown in Figure 4. 70% of our respondents believed that social networks could lead to job promotions when supervisors had the same nationality. They believed that 40% of the possibility for promotion depended on the supervisor while 60% depended on the workers’ own capability. In all, supervisors occupied the most important role in promotions.
Figure 4: Workers’ perceptions of the role of social networks in job promotions n=90
Perception of workers in the role of social networks in job promotions
30% Social network leads to job promotions 70% Social network does not lead to job promotions
Interestingly, workers in lower positions such as labourers and helpers strongly believed there was a nationality bias in promotion. Their opinion was that people who belonged to the same nationality as their supervisors and managers were more likely to get promoted. They reported seeing favourable work assessments made between workers and supervisors from the same country.
Respondent: It happens everywhere—so it happens here too. It will be beneficial if the supervisor is of the same nationality as the worker. Most of the supervisors favour workers of their nationality. – IDI with Mr. C.K. Limbu, Kuwait.
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Key informant interviews with supervisors also revealed that supervisors are frequently asked to recommend names for promotion for lower-level posts while for higher posts an interview is required.
Respondent: The manager asks the supervisor if he has any good men on his team. Then the supervisor recommends the best worker for promotion for tea boy. When the supervisor gives the name, then the manager requests the candidate to his office. Interviewer: Does the manager carry out an interview before promotion (tea boy)? Respondent: No, no. They do not take [the interview]. Interviewer: No? Then the supervisor’s recommendation is final? Respondent: Yes, for a tea boy it is final, but for supervisor posts, the process is a little bit different………… Manager will take a proper interview about work habits and communication. How will he control the team? That’s all. – KII with supervisor, Kuwait. F. Job Hopping and the Role of Social Networks in Kuwait
While personal social networks are not directly effective helping Nepali workers come to Kuwait or obtain their first jobs, our study finds that these networks play a more crucial role in helping Nepalis move to a new job once in Kuwait, what is called job hopping. When workers are unsatisfied with their jobs, they turn to their social networks for consolation, information, and links to new jobs.
Respondent: Yes, it is possible for those who are already here. I have arranged some jobs for some Nepalese brothers by myself, too. I arranged for some Nepalese to work in fitness centres and hotels. Interviewer: So you can help in that way?” Respondent: Yes. I can take him to my supervisor if my company needs people. Then they will interview him and if he does well he will get the job. – IDI with Mr C. Khadka, Kuwait.
In such cases workers were found to draw on all kinds of networks such as institutional linkages established in companies with people of other nationalities, ethnic and religious linkages, or group memberships such as those in religious or ethnic groups, groups in associations of local communities of home country as well as family linkages. Out of the 28 respondents participating in in-depth interviews, 9 had switched jobs and among them, and 3 had switched jobs multiple times using such networks. Workers who have come to Kuwait for the second time also use this network to get new jobs or part time jobs.
Interviewer: Were you told about the part-time job here in Nepal when you applied for a job in Kuwait for the first time? Respondent: Yes, they had informed me about that here. After going to that company, Bengali friends arranged that work for me. – FGD with current workers, Kuwait.
However, it is not easy to switch jobs in Kuwait for practical and regulations reasons. There are provisions contained in Kuwaiti labour law to curb illegal job hopping. Article 10 of Kuwaiti labour law stipulates that in the event of an employee leaving the job without giving notice to the employer, the employer is obliged to report the absence of the worker to the Kuwaiti authority and filed an absconding charge. Under a visa
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18 (shoon), the worker comes under a contract of a company, but can move out of the company to other places upon the consent of the company, after one year of employment. Ideally, the company releases a letter if the worker wishes to seek other employment after three years. After he or she obtains the release letter the worker is free to work in another company. If the company refuses the worker’s request, he or she can go to the labour court which can compel the company to give the release. When release letters are difficult to obtain, workers usually choose not to file a case in the labour court and in many instances, run away from the company and find new jobs illegally.
Respondents cited a number of cases in which Nepalis worked illegally. This occurs for two primary reasons: One, is when workers have agreement with their employers to buy their visa and be free to work illegally in other jobs. This option is appealing to Kuwaiti based employers as they save cost of recruitment and pay lower wages. Two, when workers flee their homes due to disagreements with their employers coupled with their passports being withheld, and the lure of a better opportunity with another employer.
G. Analytical Conclusion: The Impact of Nepali Foreign Workers' Networks on the Kuwaiti Labour Market
This section presents the analytical conclusion of our study on the effect on the Kuwaiti labour market of social networks among Nepali workers in Kuwait. We find that the impact of a worker's network depends both on size of the network, and on the position the network members occupy in the labour market. Readers must keep in mind that Nepali workers in Kuwait are concentrated in lower positions of companies. According to our respondents, up to 80% of Nepalis working in Kuwait work as cleaners, helpers, and domestic workers. The remaining 20% occupy more prestigious labour positions such as scaffolding, carpenters, painters, electricians, and very few management and supervisory positions. The aim of our study has been to analyze three potential areas where the formal and informal networks of workers may have an impact on the labour market in Kuwait.
1. Impact on creating chain mobility to Kuwait
As elaborated in section 5.2, we find that chain mobility to Kuwait is determined by the following factors listed according to the strength of each: a. Labour laws and expatriate policies of the government of Kuwait b. Foreign employment policies of the government of Nepal c. Strength of social networks between the intermediaries d. Strength of social networks of workers currently in Kuwait
Respondents were of the opinion that the strongest factor influencing chain mobility is the labour laws of Kuwait. They believe that all the other factors that tend to create chain mobility will have to circumvent the existing foreign workers quota for each employer set by the government of Kuwait and believe that intermediaries in Nepal and Kuwait, as well as the social networks of individual Nepalis, are not able to
42 bypass this rule. Respondents felt that the second most important factor influencing chain mobility is the Government of Nepal and intermediaries acting as sub-agents. Current Nepali law forbids sending workers under the Type-20 visa, and this has largely restricted the flow of workers to Kuwait. However, we find that intermediaries, who are largely unregistered sub-agents, use illegal channels to overcome this restriction.
The third important factor affecting chain mobility is the strength of the connection between the intermediaries channelling Nepali workers to Kuwait. While a strong presence of Nepali intermediaries in Kuwait could have helped assess and/or influence the demands for Nepali labour, this is not the case now. The majority of our respondents were of the opinion that, when allowed by the rules, managers usually bring in workers from their own country. There is no registered recruitment agency owned by Nepalis in Kuwait. The formal connections and information about demand of Nepali workers depend on sporadic visits by Nepali agents to Kuwait or by emails. At present, these formal communications do not have a strong position to influence the decision making of the Kuwaiti companies. However, the increasing number and enduring presence of Nepali workers may eventually contribute to greater mobility and opportunity for Nepalis in the future.
The social networks built by Nepalis are proposed as the fourth largest factor in influencing chain mobility. The first example in which social networks play an important role is through the process of visa trading wherein Nepalis already working in Kuwait obtain visas from their employers, usually private households in this case. A second area of influence occurs when current workers in Kuwait provide information about vacant positions in Kuwaiti companies to aspiring workers in Nepal. They also tell the aspiring workers which recruitment agencies in Nepal are hiring workers for that particular Kuwait based company. The aspiring worker then approaches that recruitment agency and ends up getting to Kuwait if he or she is eligible for the job.
2. Impact on creation of positions
Our study finds that there are institutional barriers for Nepalis who seek to create positions for their fellow workers in a company. For one, actual demand for workers imposes a large challenge. But the management of a company can manoeuvre around this ceiling on hiring of foreign workers. They can advertise the positions in different countries and take a larger number of workers from one country and smaller number from the other while remaining within the ceiling. However, these decisions are made at a more senior level of the company where Nepalis have little influence. Hence, Nepali’s have little influence in the creation of positions and ultimately in the labour market.
3. Impact on selection of workers
Our study finds that institutional frameworks of both the company and networks of workers play a role in the selection of workers. When Nepali workers are in demand, current workers have a greater chance to influence the selection of workers for helping and cleaning jobs. For this, they can use their networks with non-nationals in Kuwait who are in an influential position. Respondents were of the opinion that 5% of
43 workers in non-trade sectors such as domestic workers may have obtained their jobs in Kuwait through such networks. As there is no strict criteria set by companies for hiring workers in these positions, supervisors may have taken these workers upon request.
Nepalis in Kuwait are also suited for skilled trades. These positions require a language test, oral interview, and a practical test for demonstration of skills. The test is administered by the representative of the company with the help of the recruitment agents in Nepal. For both of these intermediaries, the selection of workers means having to pay an average of 500 KD to bring him/her to the company. Because the selection process vets applicants based on skill while social networks have less influence here.
4. Other Impacts
While analysing the impact of workers’ networks in the Kuwaiti labour market, our study also found some emerging trends which may be important to consider for policy reasons. These include a rise in the number of illegal workers, job-hopping by workers, and network impact on salary raises and promotions.
Our study finds that in the present conditions, there will be potential for a pool of illegal Nepali workers in the Kuwaiti labour market. These are people who have overstayed their visas or those who have run away from companies due to the possibility of better remuneration and facilities elsewhere or difficult working conditions in their previous employment. These workers have their passports confiscated by the employers or have not been able to get release letters after their contract ends. They work illegally in part time jobs in smaller companies often hopping companies or working in more than one company at a time. The Kuwaiti companies hire them because they are cheaper; a company spends KD 500 ($1700) per head on average to bring temporary Nepali workers. Beside this, the works can do part time works or on daily need basis and companies do not have to take additional liabilities.
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SOCIAL NETWORK EFFECT FROM CORRIDORS SENDING LARGE VOLUME OF WORKERS: CASE STUDY OF INDIA
A. Indian Foreign Workers in Kuwait: An Overview
India has emerged as one of the world’s largest countries of origin for foreign workers . Its emigrant population is estimated at around 24,000,00010 spreads across the globe, and is seen as a major resource for the country11. A considerable number of these NRIs (Non Resident Indians) are today living in the Gulf countries as foreign workers.
According to the Migration and Remittances Factbook 2011, the India-GCC corridor is one of the most active labour mobility corridors in the world. The movement of Indians to the Gulf region has a long history that goes back several centuries and owes itself to trade links between Indians and Arabs (Bose 2009).
The current wave of labour movement of Indians to the Gulf countries is, however, recent, growing exponentially after the oil boom in the Gulf in the 1970s12. The demand for labour in the Gulf region after the boom and relative affluence of the GCC countries allowed for the movement of mostly unskilled and semi-skilled labour, though there were and remain needs for other types of skills (Kurien 2008), including white collared high skilled educated ‘middle class’ workers (Vora 2008). Indian workers tend to travel to all the Gulf countries with United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait among the top four destinations. Indians currently represent the largest temporary worker population in Kuwait.
Among its objectives, this study analyses why Kuwait is such a magnet for Indian job seekers and what is the role of social networks in supporting this flow of workers. The primary reason for the presence of non- Kuwaitis in the country is employment. In many cases, the worker is not accompanied by his family, since a minimum income level is required before permission to bring family is granted (Shah 2007).
10 POPULATION OF NON-RESIDENT Indians (NRIs): COUNTRY WISE. Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs. 9 April 2012. 11 See Dilip Ratha’s 2003 article Workers’ Remittances: An Important and Stable Source of External Development Finance. 12 For example see - http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/emigration-immigration-and-diaspora-relations-india
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In previous research on the movement of Indians to Kuwait, the authors argue that Indians achieve economic progress as their stay in Kuwait lengthens, an outcome that is also related to their education and experience levels (Qudsi and Shah 1991), which perhaps explains why Indian workers are willing to work and stay for prolonged periods in Kuwait. Added to this, our fieldwork suggests that Indian employees and their Kuwaiti employers share a bond of trust, which makes Indian workers a dependable workforce. This study will try to uncover what accounts for this ‘trust’. These observations can help us understand why and in which ways labour laws in Kuwait and recruitment practices in India may be creating particular working conditions which may or may not be beneficial to the home or host society in the long run.
B. Indian worker population in Kuwait As per a 2013 ILO report, foreign workers in Kuwait originate from 40 countries, although the top 5 countries account for 76.9 per cent of total expat population. Indian workers represent more than 25% of total foreign population followed by Bangladesh (13.8 per cent) and Pakistanis (12 per cent). According to the data provided by the Indian Embassy in Kuwait, as of February 2015, there are more than 800,000 Indians in Kuwait. Additionally, some 25,000 people have overstayed their visas. Out of the 800,000 Indian workers, 280,000 are domestic workers (drivers, gardeners, cooks, housemaids, houseboys etc.) of which 190,000 are male and 90,000 are female.
The table below is indicative of the rising numbers of Indians in Kuwait, especially after the Gulf War.
Table 6: Indians in Kuwait, 1975 - 2015
Year Indians in Kuwait* 1975 32,105 1983 115,000 1987 100,000 1991 88,000 2004 400,000 2008 550,000 2012 569,390 2015 800,000
*The data for all the years except 2015 is sourced from the following document https://www.academia.edu/7014849/Chapter_5_Indian_Migrants_1_in_the_Gulf_Countries The 2015 data is sourced from the Indian Embassy to Kuwait’s website
1. Profile of Indian workers in Kuwait Though temporary workers in Kuwait originate from different parts of India, a majority of them come from the South Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana. Those employed in the unskilled sector are from marginal castes – or class backgrounds. Those in the unskilled house
46 work/domestic jobs that require little or no qualification come from the most marginalised caste groups while those in better semi-skilled jobs with some post-secondary education tend to belong to mid-level caste groups.
The qualifications of unskilled workers vary – while many are school dropouts, there are instances of workers with post-secondary education doing unskilled or semi-skilled jobs. There are many more single male workers from India than female. The majority of male workers fall in the age group of 20 to 45 years old and are single. Often they get married after returning to India, or those who stay longer, marry and come back to Kuwait and find means to get their spouse to Kuwait. Most of the female workers on the other hand tend to be married when they arrive in Kuwait. They tend to be engaged in the domestic sector working as housemaids and cooks and they fall in the age group of 30 to 60 years; a larger proportion of women are in the older age bracket. The duration of stay for these temporary workers also varies widely. While there are instances of domestic workers leaving within a few months, many want to stay for extended periods to recuperate the costs they have sunk in moving from India to Kuwait.
Many workers stay for over 5 years or more, while fewer prefer to remain for longer than a decade. Women employed in the domestic sector with a reliable sponsor and no husband, tend to remain in Kuwait for longer periods. Generally, when a temporary worker has stayed beyond a few months, he or she wants to leave Kuwait only when enough money has been saved to ensure decent living conditions in India upon return. They wish to save up enough and return to their places of origin to build a house, get their daughters married or provide for the education of their children in India.
2. Job sector profile Indian workers are employed in all sectors of the Kuwaiti economy at all status levels. The largest sector providing employment to temporary Indian workers is the domestic sector, employing an estimated 280,000 Indians, or about 35 per cent of registered Indian workers in Kuwait. Apart from the domestic sector, Indian workers are employed in semi-skilled positions, such as cleaners and drivers in companies, construction workers, technicians, salespersons, and security service men, among others. Indians are also employed in high-skilled jobs, for instance as engineers, doctors, nurses, teachers, accountants, IT experts, managerial staff, senior executives, etc. This study finds that the majority of Indians in Kuwait are engaged in low wage semi-skilled and unskilled occupations where young male workers outnumber female workers by a large margin. Outside the domestic sector, a few females work in the retail sector as sales women, beauticians, teachers, nurses, administrative professionals etc. Indians are also employed in government projects and the public sector in significant numbers. Indian temporary workers tend to be considered as trustworthy by their Kuwaiti employees and, given their sheer numbers, can be considered as the backbone of the informal Kuwaiti economy.
3. Employment details
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In many instances Indian workers are not employed in the same occupations in which they were employed in India; for instance, a technician may become a driver, and a driver may end up doing the job of a technician, depending on the availability of work. Because these workers take up any job available to them when they arrive in Kuwait they are often offered jobs meant for workers with lower levels of skills than they possess and at lower wages than they could demand. In most cases, the workers also have prior knowledge of this mismatch of job roles, but still they take up these jobs on offer due to the economic conditions back home and to support their families.
Indian workers interviewed for this study, expressed that they feel employers in Kuwait employ them because they are trustworthy and have the ability to learn skills required for the job. Indian workers in the unskilled and semi-skilled categories are generally either illiterate or semiliterate and do not speak Arabic when they arrive in Kuwait.
The major reasons for going to Gulf countries, and in particular to Kuwait, were cited by respondents as: The poor economic conditions of the worker and his/her family in India Easier access to Gulf countries and Kuwait due to existing networks, which includes family members, friends, relatives, agents, companies, government organizations The high value of the Kuwaiti currency - KWD The kind of learning and earning opportunities for semi - skilled and professional workers that exist in Kuwait
C. Labour Mobility: Policies and Regulations
In this section, we give the details of various policies and regulations that govern movement of temporary contractual workers from India to GCC countries including Kuwait, and understand the legal and structural parameters under which labour mobility occurs.
1. Policies and regulations in India The Emigration Act, 1983, aims to safeguard the interests of workers who seek employment outside India and ensure their welfare. One of the measures the Indian government has undertaken is to safeguard against possible exploitation of workers by middlemen by registering recruiting agents under the Protector General of Emigrants (PGE) that works under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs. Recruitment agents hiring for overseas employment have to be registered under the PGE, and after a period of 5 years they are able to renew their license based on their track record. The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs administers the Emigration Act through the eight offices of the Protector of Emigrants (POEs). The offices are located at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Chandigarh, Cochin, Hyderabad and Thiruvananthapuram.
Potential Indian workers whose passports have been endorsed as “Emigration Check Required” (ECR), if intending to travel to Kuwait for employment purposes, are required to obtain emigration authorization
48 from the Protector of Emigrants (POEs), either directly or through the recruitment agents or through the employer concerned.
2. Creation of Networks that Facilitate Movement of Workers to Kuwait
GCC countries, including Kuwait, have been a magnet for workers from the Indian sub-continent. In our study conducted in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, we found that a few specific districts in the state were sending considerable numbers of temporary workers to Kuwait. These districts are Kadapa, Chittoor, and East and West Godavari. We selected Kadapa district as a study site because it has seen a strong culture of migration to Kuwait over the last three decades. This was contrasted with Guntur district, which has seen less concentration of workers going to Kuwait. Results of the field investigation suggest that in Kadapa district the movement of workers to Kuwait started with a travel agent named Kumaraswamy who worked in a big travel agency in Mumbai in the 1970s and made his first recruitments from the district.
In the 1970s, employers from Kuwait used to come to Bombay/Mumbai to recruit workers from India in big numbers after the oil boom. Initially, workers from Kerala used to go for these jobs as many of the travel agents in Bombay were Keralites. But Kumaraswamy’s job put him in a position where he could help many of his relatives and friends to move to Kuwait through the travel agency where he worked. His relatives were among the first few people from Kadapa who moved to Kuwait in the 1970s and 1980s, initiating a process of chain mobility that has since strengthened. With the eruption of the Gulf War in the early 1990s, the movement from this region to Kuwait slowed, and only picked up again in the late 1990s.
It was easier for these workers from Kadapa to travel to Kuwait as these towns are connected by rail to Chennai (Madras) and Mumbai, which were the only major international airports and hubs for international travel in South India until the early 2000s. Against this backdrop, the people of Kadapa who were largely poorly educated and who had limited means of livelihood earnings, (especially females) moved to Kuwait as housemaids. These housemaids brought their close relatives (husbands/sons/brothers) to Kuwait often as drivers, helpers, or houseboys. With these waves of movement, the corridor has strengthened further and strong networks have been established between the region and Kuwait which in turn have helped facilitate the flow of knowledge of visa procedures, travel and recruitment processes.
The workers we interacted with felt that the people of Kuwait had a good understanding of India as they had historical ties with the country. They felt it was easier to build trust between Indian workers and employers in Kuwait. Furthermore, the high value of the Kuwaiti Dinar (KWD) was seen as a positive aspect drawing workers there. i. All these important factors make Kuwait an attractive destination for Indian workers in the Kadapa region.
Workers we interviewed said poverty at home motivates people to seek work abroad. Gulf countries were providing job opportunities and higher wages than could be obtained at home for similar kinds of work.
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Figure 5: Reasons for choosing Kuwait as a destination among Indian workers from Kadapa district, n = 90
Reasons for Choosing Kuwait
Help from Family 15% and Friends
Familiarity with visa 15% and other process
70% Can earn more than other destinations
D. The Process Determining Labour Mobility to Kuwait and the Role of Intermediaries and Social Networks
While there are policies and regulations governing the mobility of temporary contractual workers to Kuwait, as explained above, our research unearthed a major finding differentiating the Indian context from that of Nepali labour flow: social networks in the unskilled and semi-skilled categories of work largely determine mobility of Indian workers to Kuwait. In some instances, social networks may even play a role in the mobility of skilled workers because information flow about jobs and recommendations for specific jobs through social contacts play a role in high skilled job markets. Particularly in the low skilled/ unskilled segments of the labour market, social networks become a vital resource through which flow of information about the mobility process, flow of money for financing the move, creation of visas through relationships with Kuwaiti employers, and access to new job opportunities for workers already in Kuwait, are all influenced.
1. Role of intermediaries and social networks in Indian labour mobility to Kuwait
Though Indian workers use both formal and informal networks, they overwhelmingly depend on social networks to reduce the risk associated with international mobility. The majority of the temporary workers we interviewed from Anhdra Pradesh were Hindu, while a small number where Muslim and Christian. The Hindus belonged to various caste groups, ranging from high status to low status ones. During our interviews, it became evident that when workers chose to go to Kuwait, it was not decided along the lines
50 of religion or caste as much as it was determined by regional and linguistic affiliations. People from the same regions in Kadapa irrespective of caste or religion would chose Kuwait as a destination because they knew of neighbours or family members who had gone to Kuwait and some of them had stories of success to exhibit by their improved living standard or augmented land holding after coming back from Kuwait.
The relative importance and role of social networks in the movement of workers to Kuwait are influenced by the type of visa a worker holds and the type of employment in which they will be engaged.
Below we will describe the role of social networks in Visa 18 Shoon and Visa 20 respectively.
Visa 20 holders’ mobility and the role of social networks
Most of the workers interviewed both in Kuwait and India (roughly 90 %) went to Kuwait under a Visa 20. Among them, 90% reported they went to Kuwait because of pre-existing linkages – a friend, a family member or someone from the village had already gone to Kuwait. For these workers, when it comes to obtaining a visa, a job opportunity, or any other important information about employment, close relatives – in many cases blood relatives such as parents, siblings, uncles, aunts, or cousins – helped the workers to secure their visa or their job. Apart from relatives, friends become another important link, assisting with information and may assist in provide a Visa 20 to the worker in India through connecting with employers to facilitate visa trading.
From the Kuwaiti side, for issuing Visa 20 there are legal recruitment agents in Kuwait who help the employers to get low-skilled workers like maids, drivers, cooks, or helpers. These recruitment agents, known as ‘Maktab’ are at times Indians who came to Kuwait for work long ago and have crucial knowledge of Kuwaiti international labour mobility laws and well-established networks. These agents also utilise their caste, kinship, and regional networks to bring people to Kuwait. They identify local agents in villages and small towns in India (often their relatives or friends) to help the prospective workers obtain a passport, get medical check-ups and PCC clearance, or book tickets. The agents in Kuwait and India charge money for these services and often these services are delivered for very high margins.
The agents in India are often not registered with the PGE and hence are not operating legally. They form the most important intermediaries on the Indian side. In the case of Kadapa, these intermediaries become vital nodes who have connections with agents in Kuwait. The connection between agents in Kuwait and the local unregistered agents in small towns of Kadapa sustain the movement of workers under Visa 20. Although such intermediaries are also present in Guntur, they were not found to play such an important role in facilitating movement to Kuwait because of the absence of chain mobility to Kuwait from this part of Andhra.
Visa 20 are flexibly allotted to each household in Kuwait based on the household’s income and number of members. In some cases, the employer may choose to give the visa sponsorship for free to his Indian workers who in turn sell the visa to job aspirants in India or pass it on to their close relatives in India. In
51 other cases, the employer may sell the visa to his employee who then sells it to job aspirants. Sometimes the employers reach out to the agent to get a domestic worker, paying money to the agent to bring these workers. These agents sell the visa to the job aspirants in India through local agents or an acquaintance in India. In some cases, employers collude with the agent and sell the visa to a third party who in-turn sells it to the job aspirant in India.
Visa 18 (Shoon) holders’ mobility and the role of social networks
Visa 18 (Shoon) follows a more formalised pattern of recruitment, the legal process of which was explained earlier in the study. However, here too the role of social networks comes into play, particularly in the case of Indian workers. While the job offers are usually routed through manpower agencies, sometimes it has already been decided who will fill the position. For instance Family Member/Friend A may come to know of a job position in the company s/he works for. S/He may influence his/her supervisors or managers to hire Family Member/Friend B – his/her relative or friend in India, promising to teach B how to carry out the work effectively. As the supervisor or manager trusts A, he may agree to this arrangement and while the position may be advertised, the manpower agency in India officially in charge of hiring for the post will recruit Family Member/Friend B. In another scenario, manpower agencies may choose to give a particular job to ‘their own’ person – a relative or friend - though they will charge this known person a fee just as they would charge anyone else. These kind of arrangements can often lead to a mismatch between the skills of the worker and the requirements of the job.
The tables below illustrate the social resources of Indian workers, interviewed for this study.
Figure 3: Share of Indian workers in Kuwait who had immediate family members and relatives who had moved abroad, n=90
Had immediate family members and relatives moved abroad
33%
77%
Yes No
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Figure 4: Share of Indian workers in Kuwait who had family members/relatives/friends/neighbors who had moved to Kuwait n= 90
Had family members/relatives/friends/neighbours moved to Kuwait
11%
89%
Yes No
Figure 5: Share of Indian workers in Kuwait who had previous personal experience of foreign employment
Had personal experience of foreign employment
8%
92%
Yes No
To conclude, these graphs indicate that Indian workers are highly dependent on informal channels during the course of their mobility and work trajectory in Kuwait. This is even more so because Indians who came to Kuwait often directly landed in Kuwait without any prior experience of working abroad in other countries. This phenomenon can be attributed to the fact that these workers come to Kuwait due to chain mobility patterns from a particular region which diminish the options of exploring wider avenues for work in other countries.
2. Funding the move
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Family and relatives are the most important social networks that the workers leverage to move to Kuwait. Family/relatives are involved in taking the decision to move and raising funds when the workers need it to pay for the agent fee before moving to Kuwait. The workers fund their move to Kuwait primarily through debt or by selling assets like land and jewellery. In some cases the workers have borrowed from local money lenders at high interest rates. Some workers have raised funds from their family and relatives, which has to be returned with interest. In some rare instances, workers have sold a small plot of land or their wife’s/mother’s jewellery to come to Kuwait.
The more entrepreneurial of Indian workers in Kuwait who, after spending a few years in Kuwait having managed to pay back their loan and save some money, start to give loans to other prospective workers at relatively high interest rates. The business of interest is what has sustained this informal network of mobility. At every stage of mobility workers need money. Before coming to Kuwait the worker has to pay for Visa 20 (which is issued for free by the Kuwaiti government) or Visa 18 (Shoon). For both Visa 20 and Visa 18 (Shoon or government projects), workers have to pay money to agents to coordinate the procedures including the PCC and medical check-ups and sometimes for processing travel arrangements as well. These costs often run to USD 1000 - 2000 for a job as a housemaid and can increase for better paying jobs.
3. Job Placement and the Role of Social Networks
For workers on Visa 20, job placement is highly dependent on social networks. In Visa 18 (Shoon and government projects) category, workers utilize both formal and informal channels and networks to land jobs in Kuwait.
There are different entities facilitating the mobility process. On one side, the Andhra Pradesh state government established an organization, Overseas Manpower Company of Andhra Pradesh (OMCAP) to monitor and assist this process. It functions in collaboration with APSSDC (Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Corporation), which provides technical training to prospective workers. However, the majority of residents in Andhra hardly know about this government run recruitment agency. On the other hand, private recruiting agencies, sub agents, and friends and family members have a substantially more influential role in identifying opportunities and facilitating employment in Kuwait.
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Figure 6: Indian workers’ opinion on the role of social networks in job placement in Kuwait
Workers' opinion on whether friends and family can place persons in jobs
5% Strongly agree 15% Some what agree
10% Niether agree nor 55% disagree Some what disagree 15%
Strongly disagree
Most of the low skilled and unskilled workers in our sample obtained visas and jobs (mostly in the domestic work visa category – Visa 20) through family relationships by informal means leveraging their relationships with employers. For instance, if an Indian worker is employed in a wealthy household which owns a business, the worker will request the employer for a Visa 18 (Shoon) and a job in his establishment for his/her son or brother who is skilled enough to get a job as a driver or another semi-skilled job in the business. This channel is usually leveraged when the worker earns trust from the employer and builds a solid relationship. However, due to recent regulations issued by the Government of Kuwait, transfer from Visa 20 to Visa 18 (Shoon) has been banned.
In the skilled category many of the workers have come through formal networks like job placement agencies or company representatives. Even in skilled categories there are instances in which information on the job is passed on by a close relative or a friend. We found that the primary reason for using networks of family or friends is to ensure there is a real job and the details of the job such as salary, role, working hours, and other conditions are correct. Having the job personally endorsed by a family member or friend gives the aspiring worker a sense of assurance and protection from exploitation.
Most workers from India to Kuwait end up in the domestic job sector. They usually do not possess any relevant job related skills before they arrive in Kuwait and learn the required skills over a period of time; they also learn the required languages like Arabic or English to get promotions. Workers are generally not well aware of Arab customs, preferences or the language. Yet there is a perception that Indians generally show tenacity in learning these over time.
Domestic workers learn these skills and techniques on the job. They need to learn the art of cooking Arabic food for example, something they are not used to in India. Similarly for skilled jobs – like operating heavy machines or working in a specialized factory, or even supervising a store – workers learn new techniques
55 on the job. The benefit of utilising social networks is that workers already have family or friends who have helped them to come to Kuwait and who can help these workers gain expertise in their field.
4. Creation of positions and the role of social networks
Indian workers sometimes combine formal and informal means to get information and to move to Kuwait. For instance, one of the respondents told us:
One technician had come to me, he had told me that salaries there [in Kuwait] are good and gave me a phone number, and I thought it over. Thinking that salaries are good there, I called the number and that person told me to come to Bombay, and I will get you a job. When I went there, he told me that there is a need for the technician, and so he did arrange for all other things required. When I went there (to Kuwait), I was not given that job but instead was made to work in another job which I didn’t know how to do. So I was unable to do that job.
In another case, a man went on a Visa 20 as a domestic worker through registered agents but, due to his strong skills, his employer, illegally, gave him the duty of managing his shop. The worker multitasked, running errands, working as a driver and helping in the shop. Through this employment he managed to earn a lot of money.
Figure 7: Indian workers’ perceptions on the role of social networks in job promotion in Kuwait
Indian workers' perceptions on the role played by social networks in job promotion in Kuwait
Play very 10% important role 20% Some what 10% important role Not sure
Not important at all 50%
A. Utilizing Old or New Social Networks after Moving to Kuwait
Our interactions with Indians currently or previously working in Kuwait demonstrated that workers leverage existing networks in their region and tap into the closest networks of their relatives, friends and caste fellows. After moving to Kuwait they not only use these old relationships, social capital and support
56 systems, but also come into contact with other workers from the same linguistic group at the work place and other informal get-togethers in the initial stages, allowing them to expand their networks.
1. Making new networks in Kuwait Workers tend to live together, sharing spaces in which newer members keep coming. This facilitates the expansion of social networks in private spaces. In workspaces, Indians meet other workers with whom they keep in touch. Sometimes caste and linguistic based meetings, organisations, social, or religious gatherings are formed which help workers meet new people; often they are from the same place and community. Our interviews with the Telugu workers show that, in most cases, especially among unskilled and low- skilled workers, new networks are created through existing networks.
For example, a young apartment caretaker named Om came to Kuwait with the help of his paternal uncle who had been working in Farwaniya area as the caretaker of another apartment for more than 10 years (his total work experience in Kuwait amounted to 25 years). Om’s uncle introduced him to all his friends and relatives whom Om did not know before coming to Kuwait; this helped him be more effective in fixing problems faced by the apartment residents. In the keep in touch with them and exchange information on jobs, financial matters, entertainment etc. He facilitated his brother’s employment in Kuwait by purchasing a Visa 20for INR.100,000 (KWD 450/USD 1502) from an agent. Now Om is actively looking for a driver’s job for his brother by using his old networks and new relationships he cultivated after coming to Kuwait.
In another interaction with a security supervisor named Faiyaz from Telangana state it was revealed that he uses Facebook to connect with fellow Telangana workers and post jobs and job-related information on Facebook that he comes across. He also uses Facebook to get updates regarding changes in visa policy and problems that Indian workers face in Kuwait. A group of young Telangana workers formed a forum which has both online and offline presence in Kuwait. This provides a view on how online social networks also are helping to build new networks in the virtual world in turn providing platforms for exchange of job information.
In the case of housemaids, the creation of networks is more limited because housemaids stay with their employer in most cases. For them, Friday gatherings at city centres like Maliya become important, and many may meet at shopping centres, exchange their woes and shop for jewellery for their wards - this is an important social networking phenomenon for the maids working in Kuwait. Housemaids are therefore confined to meeting their relatives, their neighbours and very close groups of other housemaids from their villages and towns.
There are few Telugu associations and organizations operating in Kuwait. Kuwait Telugu Kala Samithi is the most active and claims to be the largest among all Telugu associations in the country. This organization is predominantly represented by one caste group named Kamma (also known as Chowdaries) and
57 members of this organization are rich and elite, often have white collar jobs, and tend to have been in Kuwait for a long time. Hence, this association does not play an active role in engaging with the larger Telugu community in Kuwait.
From these interactions it is evident that pre-existing relationships and workplaces are two of the most important building blocks for forging new networks for Telugu workers in Kuwait. In recent times, technology-based social networking tools like Facebook and WhatsApp have provided young and literate workers the tools to cultivate new networks without physical interactions.
2. Role of Social Networks in Promotion, Perks and other Incentives The Telugu workers we interacted with have said that earning trust with the employer by working hard and learning Arabic are the two most important factors for growing in the job, earning more money, gaining promotions or receiving any other incentives. They reported that social networks had a very limited role to play once a worker was in the job. There were instances in which we came across examples of the supervisors favouring people from their region/linguistic group/caste group. This is often explained as an issue of “helping” one’s known people and also ‘trusting’ someone already known rather than employing an unknown, and therefore possibly untrustworthy, person. However, this undue advantage is not limited to Indian/Telugu workers, it is widespread among all expats of different nationalities and linguistic groups. Aside from this occasional “helping” there is no evidence of social networks playing a particular role increasing likelihood of a workers getting promotions, perks or other incentives.
3. Job Hopping and the Role of Social Networks As we explained above, social networks are very important in getting a job; this is no different when it comes to changing a job once in Kuwait. The stronger a worker’s social network, the greater the likelihood that he or she may find a better job. We have observed that the job hopping phenomenon is more prevalent in dominant caste groups and educated youth as opposed to other groups among Telugu workers. The appetite for risk is greater among more dominant castes as they have more ability to cultivate new relationships and build social capital quickly when compared with lower caste and poorer Telugus in Kuwait. At times higher caste groups also possess higher qualifications but may do a job which does not match that qualification. After some time, they try to utilise their degrees and land a more ‘respectable’ job that suits their higher social status akin to their caste status.
B. Why Workers Utilize Social Networks over Formal Channels of Recruitment and Movement Social networks have been very instrumental in the mobility of Indian workers to Kuwait. In the following section a few case studies will explain how often the social relationships and networks (kinship, caste and home community) played a very important role in the mobility of these workers.
Case Study 1: Hari (Apartment Caretaker in Kuwait)
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Hari came to Kuwait from Kadapa with the help of his uncle who had been working in Salmiya area as a caretaker of another apartment for 20 years. His uncle had earlier got another nephew to Kuwait who was working as a driver. Hari got a job with his uncle’s help, starting with a salary of KWD 60 (USD 200) in 2009; today he earns KWD 160 (USD 534). While his network was already strong when he came to Kuwait, it was strengthened in Kuwait by people he met through his uncle and cousins.. Hari now plans to bring two of his younger brothers to Kuwait on Visa 20 and he is saving to pay agents to buy these visas for his brothers. The agent is also known to him as they belong to the same district – Kadapa and is his uncle’s friend.
Case Study 2: Vekateswarlu (Factory worker)
Venkateswarlu came to Kuwait in 2000 from Kadapa district in Andhra Pradesh. The whole process of his movement from India to Kuwait was guided and helped by his brother-in-law. His brother-in-law arranged for a Visa 20 which he acquired from a Kuwaiti employer with whom he worked in his early days in Kuwait and helped Venkateswarlu with required information on travel and connections (details of agent, returned workers etc.) in Kadapa. Venkateswarlu followed his brother-in-law’s guidance and gathered information from workers returning from Kuwait to his village, some of whom were relatives.. These longstanding relationships enabled Venkateswarlu to be confident in his decision to move to Kuwait. He said: “If my brother-in-law would not have been in Kuwait, I could not have imagined to leave the country as I had little knowledge of the whole process. He had instilled trust in me to raise KWD 400 (USD 1336) debt nearly 15 years ago to come here. He also helped me with accommodation and initial job as a helper in PWC where he knew a Kuwaiti working as a big officer.” Since then Venkateswarlu had had three jobs and finally settled for KWD 175 (USD 584) in a factory in Shuwaikh industrial area. At the time of the interview, he was on a Shoon visa, which again he obtained with the help of his brother-in-law’s friend. As Venkateswarlu explained, he relied on his relatives to raise KWD 400 (USD1336) to come to Kuwait. Moreover, one of his friends belonging to the same caste as him (Balija) and hailing from the same neighbourhood in Kadapa helped him to find one of the jobs he held after he lost employment with PWC.
Case Study 3: Chandra (Driver in a Kuwaiti Household)
Chandra was a tailor in Kodur in Kadapa district before moving to Kuwait in 2001 to work as a driver in a Kuwaiti household. His meagre earnings from tailoring could not cover his expenses, and he asked his friend, Zameer – who had also been a tailor and had moved to Kuwait in 1993 –to help him. Zameer used to work as a driver for a Kuwaiti household and established a very strong relationship with the sponsor. Later, he took up work as an office driver with a Shoon visa. Zameer requested his household sponsor to give the driver job which he had vacated to his friend Chandra. Chandra didn’t have to pay money for the visa but he incurred other expenses in the move to Kuwait, like transport tickets, medical and other miscellaneous costs amounting to about KWD 200. Zameer also helped Chandra with the agent details in Mumbai to get the medical checks and tickets processed. Zameer taught Chandra not only driving and the means to acquire a driving licence, but also how to work in Kuwaiti households and cultural nuances that would help him to earn the trust of the employer. Chandra also learnt Arabic with the help of Zameer and his brother when they met on Fridays. Chandra made more friends in the process and most of them were
59 from Kodur, his native town in India. “Zameer helped me with money, information, accommodation, skills, job etc. almost everything in the initial years of my life in Kuwait, since I don’t have anybody in Kuwait to depend upon. Now I am on my own, I made some money, learnt Arabic, made many friends, but I’ll never forget what Zameer did for me”.
Case Study 4: Manemma (Beautician)
Manemma went to Kuwait on two occasions: in 2005 for five years and again in 2012 for two years. . She lost her husband in 1999 when her children were still young and could not afford to send them to school. This difficult economic situation forced Manemma to get trained as a beautician on her cousin’s advice, who was working as a beautician in Kuwait. Manemma started a small parlour in Kodur without much success, and subsequently accepted her cousin’s help to move to Kuwait. Manemma says “the decision was very difficult as I had to leave my children and family and venture into unknown territory in the hope of making decent money. I made that decision after a long deliberation with my cousin and her husband in Kuwait”. She took a loan of KWD 250 (USD 835) to buy tickets and pay for medical check-ups, PCC etc. and the visa was arranged by her cousin without having to pay for it. When she moved to Kuwait, Manemma faced a lot of difficulties due to the lack of language skills and cultural differences. Manemma’s cousin introduced her to one of her friends who was working in the beauty parlour where Manemma took up a job. When Manemma left the job in 2014 she was earning KWD 250 (USD 835). When she returned, she built a house in Kodur, got her daughter married and her son was able to finance her son’s studies in engineering. Now she runs a training school for budding beauticians, some of whom have gone on to work in Kuwait.
In each of the above case studies there was at least one pivotal connection that was instrumental in facilitating the worker’s move to Kuwait and subsequent success there. There are no established formal channels of recruitment in the low skilled labour sector, and due to this lack, informal social networks have become entrenched in places like Kadapa.
Respondents listed the following main reasons for relying on social networks, particularly when workers originate in a worker-sending area like Kadapa, many of which were illustrated in the above case studies:
The workers ‘trust’ friends and relatives: Trust among friends or relatives becomes an important factor in determining why workers choose to move to Kuwait with the help of social networks. This trust factor makes it easier for them to decide to choose Kuwait versus another country where they do not know anyone. This trust also makes workers willing to invest money in the mobility process knowing well that someone they know is there to take care of them.
Help is extended from successful workers already in Kuwait: Potential workers rely on the stories of success of their kith and kin or friends and villagers who have made it ‘big’ in Kuwait. When these successful people decide to help potential workers to move to Kuwait, the promise of
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achievable success weighs heavily in the minds of potential workers who decide to move to Kuwait for work.
Family or relatives at home of workers in Kuwait act as a social guarantee: Prospective workers willing to invest money in order to get a job in Kuwait know that those who are promising them to get them a visa are not likely to cheat as they have family members living in the villages who act as guarantees.
No access to formal channels / or formal channels not a guarantee for getting visa: Often manpower agencies are in big cities and workers do not know the formal processes required to move to Kuwait. The process for hunting for jobs and applying for a suitable one with a manpower agency can feel daunting, and like entering unchartered territory. Workers also hear stories of how agents cheat people. They are less likely to go to agents when their own connections can help them in getting a visa for a fee. Workers are assured of a visa for the ‘right amount’, something they may not be successful in getting if they choose to go through formal channels.
Pre-existing social networks in the country of destination account for ease of access to information and authenticity of information. It is easier for the workers to verify the details from multiple sources and points of references through close relatives and friends.
Process is financially more accessible: Friends and relatives can help in raising money to get visas, buy tickets, and pay for medical checks. Sometimes workers pay a part of the visa ‘fee’ to known intermediaries in India or Kuwait and these intermediaries agree to receive the remaining payment once the person starts work in Kuwait. These intermediaries often charge hefty interest on this ‘loan’ or ask for more money for the visa in lieu of not taking the whole amount at once. The possibility to split up the payment of fees does not exist if a worker goes through formal channels.
Handholding in the initial phase of landing in Kuwait: Known people in Kuwait help newcomers by teaching them the cultural nuances, language, rules, regulations and norms of the Kuwaiti society. This hand holding in some cases decreases the pain of transition that workers often experience when moving to a new country.
C. Analytical Conclusion: The Impact of Indian Workers' Networks on the Kuwaiti Labour Market
So far in this section we have presented our key findings from the fieldwork conducted in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kuwait among prospective workers in India and current workers in Kuwait. In this section we analyse what this study tells us about the nature of the Kuwaiti labour market and how different parties involved in hiring temporary workers utilize the labour market.
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1. Creation of positions
In the domestic sector where Visa 20 is used to bring foreign workers to Kuwait, informal networks play a big role. Visa 20 has been abused to an extent that it is almost no longer used in genuine jobs for household level employment but as a racket for gaining entry into Kuwait. Often employers, agents in Kuwait and their counterparts in India, and employees in housework collude to procure and sell visas not for generating employment but only create market for visas and secure entry of ‘workers’ in Kuwait, even in a scenario where there is no job.
In the non-domestic job sector that requires Visa 18 (Shoon) visa, good relationships and trust are also used and visas are sold and bought. However, here it does not end up creating a job – rather job position already exists and the use of informal social networks only helps decide who gets the already existing job at times with a mismatch between the skills needed to efficiently fill in the position and the actual skills possessed by the worker.
2. Influence on selection of workers As indicated earlier, social networks to a large extent determine who gets the entry Visa, and who gets selected for a job position. Of course in –high-skilled jobs, such informality does not have such a large influence as the position is given to those with appropriate qualifications and experience. But in other semi-skilled or unskilled job sectors for genuinely existing jobs, this may work in a beneficial way because hiring a known person may eliminate uncertainties and those who have helped the job seeker often help him or her to learn the basics of the job if there is a mismatch in skills and qualifications. Indian workers are liked by their employers and show tenacity in learning the skills and this quality makes them a desirable candidate for the semiskilled and unskilled job sector. The informality of the process, however, at times creates inefficiencies and skill gaps.
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Chapter V. Findings and Recommendations
For countries which rely on large numbers of expatriate workers, an examination of social networks and intermediaries can provide an illuminating view into the state and functioning of the labour market. The study set to analyse these networks and their impact in the context of Kuwait.
In doing so, the study took formal recruitment agencies, unregistered sub agents and workers’ personal networks as forms of social capital. We then analysed the role they play in shaping the labour market in Kuwait. We were particularly interested to look at the role of this social capital in influencing: (a) workers' mobility to Kuwait; (b) selection of workers and (c) creation of positions in the Kuwaiti labour market.
Below, we summarise our main findings on how workers' social networks impact the labour market of Kuwait.
Finding 1: Large communities of foreign workers in Kuwait (i.e. India) use social networks to sustain their exponential growth through leveraging non-demand driven employment opportunities while smaller communities of foreign worker (i.e. Nepal) numbers remain consistent as they tend to use formal recruitment channels to pursue demand driven employment opportunities.
The study finds that chain mobility to Kuwait is influenced by both conditions in the origin and in the destination country. In Nepal, the civil war pushed workers to seek employment in Kuwait as well as other GCC countries. In India, the long established relation with Kuwait made it one of the preferred destination countries. For both these countries, the extent of use of social networks differs due to, among others, difference in the two governments’ policies for foreign employment.
As the Nepali government has made it mandatory that workers go to Kuwait through registered recruitment agencies, Nepali workers largely use formal channels over informal social networks to move to Kuwait. A Nepali worker can only sponsor a Visa 22 for blood relatives (mother, father, children and wife of a worker) if his/her salary is above a minimum threshold. In such cases the relative can go to Kuwait without using a formal recruitment agency. This is not common as most Nepali workers in Kuwait hold unskilled to low skill jobs with salaries below the threshold to bring in family members. Consequently, Nepali workers do not bring their family members to Kuwait. In addition, due to their low skilled employment positions, Nepali workers have minimal influence on promoting the employment of their fellow nationals. It was also observed in the study that Nepali workers are more likely to use social networks in Nepal to assist prospective workers with the labour mobility process, however, once in Kuwait they tend to avoid providing similar support in, specifically in landing jobs, to avoid taking responsibility for the performance of the worker. For all aforementioned reasons, social networks have very little impact in creating chain mobility to Kuwait in the case of Nepal.
Though the Indian government also considers registered recruitment agencies as a legal channel for moving to Gulf countries including Kuwait, Indian unskilled and low-skilled workers use social networks to
63 get information about jobs, living conditions and wages that help them in their decision-making as well as their opportunities for employment. More importantly, they use the networks to acquire different types of visas to enter Kuwait. Due to long established networks, prospective workers prefer Kuwait to other GCC countries in some districts of Andhra Pradesh where the study was carried out. Every house in this district has someone who had been to Kuwait or is in Kuwait. This shows that social networks have worked in creating chain mobility patterns from parts of India to Kuwait, unlike what we have seen from Nepal.
In India, trust among friends or relatives becomes an important factor in determining why workers choose to move to Kuwait with the help of social networks. This trust factor makes it easier for them to decide to choose Kuwait versus another country where they do not know anyone. This trust also makes workers willing to invest money in the mobility process knowing well that someone they know is there to take care of them. In addition, help is extended from successful workers already in Kuwait: Prospective workers rely on the stories of success of their kith and kin or friends and villagers who have made it ‘big’ in Kuwait. When these successful people decide to help prospective workers to move to Kuwait, the promise of achievable success weighs heavily in the minds of prospective workers who decide to move to Kuwait for work.
In India, friends and relatives can help in raising money to get visas, buy tickets, and pay for medical checks. Sometimes workers pay a part of the visa ‘fee’ to known intermediaries in India or Kuwait and these intermediaries agree to receive the remaining payment once the person starts work in Kuwait. These intermediaries often charge hefty interest on this ‘loan’ or ask for more money for the visa in lieu of not taking the whole amount at once. The possibility to split up the payment of fees does not exist if a worker goes through formal channels. Finally, handholding in the initial phase of landing in Kuwait: Known people in Kuwait help newcomers by teaching them the cultural nuances, language, rules, regulations and norms of the Kuwaiti society. This hand holding in some cases decreases the challenges of transition that workers often experience when moving to a new country.
EFFECT ON KUWAIT LABOUR MARKET:
Worker communities with strong social networks create a chain mobility to Kuwait resulting in a decrease of diversity in skills in the labour force, an excess supply of unskilled and low-skilled workers, and promotion of a labour intensive economy. The chain mobility of Indian workers has resulted in an exponential increase of Indian population in Kuwait that reached 800,000 in 2015. In contrast, the number of Nepali workers in Kuwait has remained consistent between 70,000-100,000 for the last 7 years. As most of the Indian workers entering Kuwait through Visa 20 and Visa 18 are mostly unskilled and low skilled, they have contributed to the creation of a less diversified labour market in Kuwait. Moreover, the excess supply of unskilled and low-skilled workers competing for the same jobs contributes to lowering salaries of workers. At the same time, such low wages encourage employers to focus on labour intensive businesses. As this chain mobility continues to contribute to sustaining and promoting a labour intensive economy, it also results in less creation of high skill and higher productivity employment opportunities, which could appeal to Kuwaiti nationals.
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Finding 2: Workers using social networks to obtain employment opportunities under visa 20 (domestic workers) and visa 18 (government projects) often lead to illegal visa trading.
There is a huge difference in opinion among Nepali and Indian workers when they were asked about the role social networks can play in obtaining a job in Kuwait. While 86% of Nepali respondents believe that social networks cannot play a role in obtaining jobs, only 25% of Indian workers thought the same. Nepali workers were of the opinion that only 1-2 people out of 10 workers might have arrived through such networks while in the case of Indian workers most of the low skilled and unskilled workers in our sample obtained visas and jobs through family relationships by informal means leveraging their connections with Kuwait-based employers. This demonstrates a massive difference in terms of how workers from the two countries achieve employment in Kuwait with considerable implications for the potential role of workers on the Kuwaiti economy and labour market, as well as how they move around in the labour market once in Kuwait.
No access to formal channels / or formal channels not a guarantee for getting visa is often a pivotal reason to why workers choose to access social networks. Often formal recruitment agencies are in big cities and workers do not know the formal processes required to move to Kuwait. The process for hunting for jobs and applying for a suitable one with a recruitment agency can feel daunting and like entering unchartered territory. Workers also hear stories of how agents cheat people. They are less likely to go to agents when their own personal connections can help them in getting a visa, even when they have to pay a fee. Workers are assured of a visa for the ‘right amount’, something they may not be successful in getting if they choose to go through formal channels.
Types of visas mainly obtained by Indian workers through their networks are visa 20 (domestic workers), visa 18 (government projects), and visa 18 (shoon). Workers often have to pay the Kuwait based employer a significant fee to issue their visa. Until recently, once they arrive to Kuwait, they were given the freedom to transfer to other jobs legally in the case of visa 18 (government projects) and visa 20 (domestic workers). However, some government regulations coupled with the unwillingness of workers to leave Kuwait, have indirectly contributed to the thriving illegal worker market. For example, since the transfer from visa 18 government projects to visa 18 shoon has been banned, a number of workers were stuck paying an annual residency renewal fee to their employers and remain employed in the black (illegal) market. Similarly, as the transfer from visa 20 to visa 18 (shoon) is also now banned, many domestic workers continue to work illegally in other jobs while being obliged to pay an annual residency renewal fee to their original employer. Regulations that restrict transfers from one type of visa to another has directly contributed to the growth of illegal visa trading. Thus, far from limiting the mobility of workers, the regulations have in fact appeared to distort the formal labour market by expanding black market employment. This impact is greater among populations with large social networks (such as India) that expand their opportunities within the local informal labour market.
EFFECT ON KUWAIT LABOUR MARKET
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Even though visa 18 (government workers) falls under PAM, the estimated number of foreign workers to be recruited under visa 18 (government project) is decided by the main contractor that has won that specific government tender, in coordination with the sub-contractors. PAM has generally been unable to contest the estimate submitted by contractors. In addition, PAM’s capacity to fully monitor workers of government projects is deemed challenging. This lack of contesting and limited monitoring provides contractors and sub-contractors with the opportunity to exploit workers through engaging in illegal visa trading. Similarly, under visa 20 (domestic workers), some workers coming through social networks are exploited by employers through charging visa fees as well as a renewal charge. Like PAM, MoI is finding it challenging to monitor domestic workers and their respective employers. Furthermore, by allowing employers to sponsor a larger number of workers under visa 20 than is actually required within a household, this allows employers to engage in visa trading, receiving fees for allowing workers to come in (often through their social networks) and then having these same workers find employment in the black market.
Both examples stated above illustrate how the use of social networks can contribute to an increase of number of workers acquiring jobs illegally in Kuwait. Having an uncontrolled quota for recruiting foreign workers under visa 18 (government projects) coupled with minimal monitoring on visa 20 (domestic workers) results in the creation of a labour market that thrives on black market workers and visa trading.
Finding 3: Workers who use social networks to acquire jobs under visa 18 (shoon) tend to have a mismatch between their skills and the requirement of the jobs.
Social networks are also commonly used for preferential selection of unskilled and low-skilled workers to specific employment opportunities in Kuwait. Indian workers that acquire jobs under Visa 18 (Shoon) extensively leverage relationships with their relatives/friends in Kuwait to get a personal recommendation for a demand-driven employment opportunity. At times, this arrangement works in a beneficial way because hiring a known person may eliminate uncertainties and those who have helped the job seeker get the position, often provide him or her with support to get acquainted with the basics of the job. However, due to a lack of a certification and skill testing process, it has been observed in the research that in many cases there is a gap between the skill possessed by the worker and actual skills required to effectively fill in the vacant job.
EFFECT ON KUWAIT LABOUR MARKET
A mismatch of skills to the required jobs can lead to low productivity of workers. In addition, to satisfy the demand of the labour market that is highly dependent on labour intensive businesses, the foreign worker population continues to exponentially increase unnecessarily, potentially placing a strain on infrastructure as well as services that are funded or subsidized by the Kuwaiti government.
Finding 4: PAM has limited control on remedying the negative effects of social networks on the Kuwait labour market in its current structure
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As mentioned earlier in this executive summary, in its current structure, PAM has limited control on a large section of the labour market in Kuwait – mainly visa 20 domestic workers and visa 18 (government projects). PAM is unable to acquire real data on the Kuwaiti labour market, i.e. which sectors employ what number of foreign workers and other profiling data. Consequently, PAM will find it challenging to undertake any strategic plans on the restructuring of the labour market. Even though, toward the end of 2015 a national committee formed from relevant government institutions was established to identify a foreign workers data sharing mechanism, no outputs from the committee have been documented to date.
EFFECT ON KUWAIT LABOUR MARKET
Multiple government institutions issuing at times conflicting policies, limit PAM’s ability to regulate the labour market. Furthermore, due to the growth of the informal labour market (particularly through the use of visa 18 and visa 20), data captured through the work permit process does not accurately reflect the realities of the Kuwaiti labour market (ie. Where demand is and where foreign workers are actually working). This, in turn, makes it difficult to develop evidence-based policies to direct Kuwait’s labour market in the direction the government seeks; notably, to increase productivity and create higher value job opportunities of interest to Kuwaitis.
Conclusion and suggested recommendations
It is evident from this research that social networks play different roles and level of importance within the foreign worker populations in Kuwait. It is evident how a large foreign population extensively uses social networks to gain employment in Kuwait. It is as well clear the extensive use of social networks does have negative implications on the Kuwait labour market. Some of the direct negative implications of the use of social networks referred to in the study, includes, (i) excess supply of unskilled workers, (ii) a labour intensive economy that creates limited job opportunities for Kuwaiti nationals, (iii) a mismatch between skills of foreign workers and minimum job requirements, (iv) growing supply and demand of black market workers, and (v) high potential for workers exploitation through visa trading and illegal renewal charges.
The study concludes that the aforementioned implications take place, practically unchallenged, due to (i) a foreign workers estimation process that is inaccurate and inefficient, (ii) different entities conducting foreign workers estimation with no mechanism for PAM to contest estimation, (iii) lack of effective policy to decrease number of unskilled workers and create job opportunities for national workers, (iv) lack of a skill testing and certification mechanism, and (v) lack of a strong coordination mechanism that monitors workers and employers.
It is clear that the Kuwait labour market suffers from major structural challenges that need to be rethought rather than plastered. There have been multiple attempts, through various regulations, decrees, to remedy the flaws of the current labour market structure; however, as the attempts were mainly a reaction to identified challenges, and mostly not based on real data and research evidence, they have met minimal success. In fact, in many cases these attempts have created more challenges than solved existing ones (i.e. banning transfers from visa 18 (government projects) and visa 20 (domestic workers)).
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Kuwait can benefit from studying and contextualizing labour market structures that are similar to its own and have enjoyed relative success in managing the flow of foreign workers through implementing programmes of nationalization of their labour force. For example, Singapore (and to a certain extent Malaysia) both have labour markets with characteristics that are very similar to that of Kuwait in proportion of nationals to foreign workers, segregated labour market, relatively high un-employment of nationals, and excess supply of unskilled foreign workers. That said, differences in economic diversification and institutional environment between Kuwait and Singapore should be taken into consideration when attempting to establish a new labour market structure. Another programme that should be closely monitored and studied is “Nitaqat” of Saudi Arabia that has enjoyed relative success in increasing employment of Saudi nationals, albeit with some short-term challenges in the form of curbing economic growth. It is also worth noting that “Nitaqat” does not directly target the decrease of number of unskilled foreign workers, an issue of significant importance to the Kuwait labour market.
The recommendations of this study are centred around a new work permit system that if implemented correctly, with a strong supporting macro-economic environment, would result in remedying negative effects of social networks through (i) unifying foreign workers estimation process, (ii) increase employment opportunities for nationals, (iii) decrease number of unskilled foreign workers, and (iv) safe guard a free mobility mechanism between different types of visas in Kuwait. In parallel, it is critical to integrate a skill testing and certification process as well as strengthening coordination mechanisms and capacity of public institutions mandated to monitor employers/workers.
The following recommendations can be regarded as core processes towards a medium to long-term restructuring plan of the Kuwait labour market. We recommend the assignment of a technical working group from PAM and other relevant government institutions to study, assess, and monitor the implementation of these core processes. The International Organization for Migration (IOM), with its vast and diversified knowledge in models of managing labour mobility, can act as a technical secretariat for this process.
1. Labour Market Assessment: Conduct a periodical Labour Market Assessment, to document labour market demand in each sector, identify the main trends of the labour market, and inform the development of a national education and training system. 2. Profiling of national labour force: Conduct a comprehensive profiling assessment to identify characteristics of the national labour force (i.e. skills, occupations, labour market participation, productivity, etc..). This profiling exercise will assist PAM to detect sectors where there are shortages of national labour as well as identify training gaps. This is an essential process as it lays the platform for a labour market system that is centred on the active participation of national labour. The profiling will be a periodical process implemented to capture the changing/evolving characteristics of the national labour force. 3. Establish a foreign workers permit system: Establish a permit system where the calculating formula is based on the number of national labour employed relative to the sector of employment with a set dependency ratio for each sector/industry. The number of permits granted to employers is subject to a dependency ceiling, or dependency ratio, which is defined as the maximum share of foreign workers in a firm's total employment. Dependency ceilings are set for each sector/industry and are uniform
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across firms For example, the calculation for a manufacturing sector business could be 1 (national worker) x 5 = number of permits allowed for foreign workers. The same calculation for a construction sector business could be 1 (national worker) x 10 = number of permits allowed for foreign workers. Main industries/ sectors are to be identified as an initial step and then a standard formula is to be developed with different dependency ratio for each sector (depending on the profiling of the national labour force). This will be a phased approach, with dependency ratios changing in connection to the results of profiling the national labour force and the changing labour market demand and trends. 4. Levy charging system: Introduce a variable levy (monthly fee) to be charged according to classification of skill with a higher levy for unskilled foreign workers. Levies are flexible pricing mechanisms to equalize the cost of foreign labour relative to national labour. This is a mechanism to bridge the gap between salaries of nationals and foreign workers – by way promoting the employment of national workers. Another important aspect of the levy charge is to discourage employers from hiring a high number of unskilled workers, which can persuade them to diversify towards more capital-intensive business. 5. Skills testing and certification system: Develop a common skill testing and certification standard in Kuwait and countries of origin. Skill testing and certification is critical to ensure the high productivity of workers and changing the makeshift of the foreign labour force from unskilled to skilled. 6. A supporting macroeconomic environment: In parallel to systems suggested above, it is imperative to support a macroeconomic environment that is conductive to growth and job creation. For example, incentivise import of high tech products and subsidizing energy, both will encourage business owners to move more towards a capital-intensive economy. 7. Strengthen institutional capacity: Intensive capacity building programs to strengthen institutional capacity to implement and enforce policy. This includes strengthening coordination mechanisms between public institutions mandated to monitor foreign workers – specifically large populations that are more likely to use social networks. 8. Free mobility: Allowing free transfer/mobility between different types of entry visas in Kuwait. Once a foreign workers permit system is in place, free transfers will be beneficial to address labour market demands. Such a regulation will contribute to curbing the expansion of the black market workers. 9. Increase minimum wage of domestic workers: Domestic workers minimum wage should be increased and standardized. The wage increase will help attract more qualified domestic workers with higher productivity and less vulnerability for exploitation. In addition, monitoring mechanism of employers and workers must be strengthened with a focus on nationalities with large communities of domestic workers.
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