Prof. Abdoulaye Diop, Manager of SESRI’s Research Department
The Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI), a social scientific survey research initiative of Qatar University, announced the results of a study on ‘Qatar’s Labour Law Changes and Worker’s Welfare’ in a seminar recently.
From September 22, 2020, to January 19, 2021, SESRI surveyed 2,760 individuals, including Qatari nationals, higher-income and lowerincome expatriates, about Qatar’s recent labour law changes. The survey is based on a nationally representative sample interviewed by telephone in nine different languages.
The survey shows that both Qataris and resident expatriates have a mostly positive perception of the recent labour law changes and their impact on Qatar’s economy and expatriates’ working and living conditions. However, the findings also indicate that public awareness surrounding the new legislative reforms remains low.
Director of SESRI, Dr. Kaltham Ali Al Ghanim said, “The event revolves around migrant workers, a topic that is of great importance to society and has appeared in strategies concerning the population and the workforce over the past decades. Several workshops and seminars have been organized locally and regionally to discuss the issue of construction workers in Qatar to develop this profession and improve their working and living conditions and framed by laws that deal with their well-being during work and their presence in the community. The country has come a long way in this area. Qatar has implemented various laws that protect migrant worker rights, including recent improvements to labour laws.”
“This study is funded by Qatar Foundation through the National Priorities Research Program (NPRP) 11th cycle. The grant was won by Prof. Abdoulaye Diop, Manager of SESRI’s Research Department, who, due to COVID-19, conducted the interviews for the survey via telephone. The presentation will discuss the main findings of the study, which is to showcase the positions and perceptions of Qataris and migrant workers on the latest changes to Qatar’s labour laws.”
The majority of Qatari nationals, higher-income, and lower-income expatriates, are not very familiar with Qatar’s labour law changes. Overall, few Qatari nationals, higherincome and lower-income expatriates report being very familiar with the recent labour law changes. Considering those who said they were only somewhat familiar along with the very familiar, slightly more than half of the Qatari respondents (57%) are at least slightly familiar with the changes.
The majority of Qatari nationals (70%) and higher-income expatriates (74%) think that the new legislative changes will make foreign workers less dependent on their employers. This percentage is significantly smaller among lower-income expatriates (54%).
Lower-income expatriates (42%) are also most likely out of the three population subgroups to think that the changes will make foreign workers more dependent on their employers (compared to 28% of Qataris and 24% of higher-income expatriate respondents).
More than three-quarters of higher-income expatriates (78%) and lower-income expatriates (77%) said they think that the minimum wage should be increased from QR1000. Overall, Qataris are least likely to think that the minimum wage should be further increased.
More than half of Qatari nationals (58%) think that the minimum wage should be kept or maintained at QR1000. The majority of Qatari nationals, higher-income, and lower-income expatriates, think that the labour law changes have a positive impact on Qatar’s economy and the working and living conditions of expatriate residents. All respondents were also asked about the potential impact of the labor law changes on Qatar’s economy and expatriate workers’ living and working conditions.
Nearly two-thirds of Qataris (64%) and more than three-quarters of resident expatriates reported that these labour law changes made Qatar’s economy somewhat or much better. Expatriate residents were more likely to give higher positive impact ratings to the economy as compared to Qataris.
Concerning the impact of the labour law changes on the working conditions of foreign workers, Qatari nationals (51%), higher-income expatriates (60%), and lower-income expatriates (60%) strongly agreed that changing the labour laws will improve the working conditions of foreign workers. Overall, resident expatriates (60%) were more likely to strongly agree about this positive impact of labour law changes than Qatari nationals (51%).
About the future impact of the labour law changes on the working conditions of foreign workers, resident expatriates were more likely to strongly agree that these changes will make their lives much better (50% for lower-income expatriates & 52% for higher-income expatriates) as compared to Qatari nationals (38%).
Almost two-thirds of respondents reported that their business or workplace was subject to the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs (MADLSA) inspection.
Based on the results, respondents who reported that their business or workplace had received a MADLSA inspection were more likely to abide by Qatar’s Wage Protection System (WPS). Namely, a higher proportion of these respondents reported paying their employees through direct bank transfer (92%) than those who stated that their business or workplace did not receive a MADLSA inspection (80%).
