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Some 1 million migrant workers have been forced out of Saudi Arabia since March last year as part of a “Saudization” campaign by the monarchy. Above, an Ethiopian worker argues with a Saudi cop Nov. 11 as he and others await deportation.
In addition to 150,000 workers from Ethiopia, 400,000 from Yemen, and more than a 100,000 from India, hundreds of thousands from other countries, including Bangladesh, Philippines, Nepal and Pakistan have been deported.
The labor law was changed in March to oblige bosses to hire a certain percentage of Saudis or face financial penalties. Official Saudi unemployment is already 12 percent, and is estimated to be double that among the two-thirds of the population who are under 30.
Non-Saudi workers were given until Nov. 4 to “fix their status” or be subject to deportation. Non-Saudi workers are tied to the boss who sponsored them under an onerous form of contract labor common in the oil kingdoms of the Arabian Peninsula that is designed to stunt the development of a hereditary proletariat and prevent labor organization.
Saudi Arabia has 30 million residents, more than 9 million are noncitizens without rights. After the U.S., it is the world’s second biggest source of remittances from migrant workers sending money home.
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