Manpower options in a small labour-importing state: the influence of ethnic composition on Kuwait's development

Trends in the ethnic composition of the Kuwaiti labor force during recent years are discussed, and the effects on the country's development are assessed. The focus is on the likely shift since the Gulf War toward importing cheaper Asian labor. "The purpose of this paper is to assess whether this is a realistic alternative towards reducing the overall cost of the expatriate labour force. Which areas of the economy would be most promising in this regard? What are the economic costs? The implicit assumption throughout the analysis...is that the country will quickly restore its economy to the structure existing at the time of the invasion." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)

[America Manna: women and migration in a global perspective]

This article considers the role of migrant women in light of the contribution to the demographic, social, and economic development of the receiving country. The high level of development for these areas has always been fostered by the ready availability of a salaried work force and its easy replacement. The cost of labor in the country of origin is different from that in the receiving country and thus often results in a parallel work force and fosters forms of discrimination. With the crisis of the "rotation" model in the 1970s, the cost of replacing the work force has been concentrated in the countries of origin while official politics, which limited the immigration of family members, placed a greater burden on the women and the children of the emigrants, and increased the danger of their gradual marginalization.