workers and $245 for all other workers.
It is unclear why the Abu Dhabi company rolled back its initial offer. But the 735-dirham wage
offered to Roshan and Arvind is $200 and matches India’s wage circular.
“A few years ago, when India increased its referral minimum wage, this Abu Dhabi company
adhered to the changes, and increased wages,” said Bheem Reddy, president, Emigrants
Welfare Forum, a migrant rights non-profit.
The ministry of external affairs did not respond to an emailed list of questions sent on 8
January 2021 about the new minimum wage.
A Region Without A Wage Floor
Much of the Arab Gulf’s 23-million migrant workforce, arrive on flights from South Asia and
Africa, over 1 in 3 are Indian nationals. In the oil-rich monarchies of the region, the Gulf’s
migrant workforce are in charge of the drudgery: they build skyscrapers, clean hotels, fix airconditioners, serve food, care for the sick, the old, and young.
Despite their contributions, none of the Gulf countries, except Qatar—that announced a $275
minimum wage last August—have a statutory minimum wage.
India’s referral wage system—fixed by executive order—tried to plug the gap, providing
foreign employers benchmark wages by occupation.
Foreign employers, under India’s Emigration Act, 1983, have to submit to the Indian
government worker contracts and other documentation, laying out proposed working and
living conditions including wages. The emigration officer by law could reject recruitment
permits, when wages fell below the prescribed rates.
Until the new circulars were announced, the wages schedule offered workers a specific
monthly salary based on their job and the country of destination—this varied widely.
For example, in the UAE, a carpenter’s minimum wage was set at 1,200 dirhams ($327 or Rs
23,885); in Saudi Arabia, at 1,700 Saudi riyals ($453 or Rs 33,134); in Kuwait, at 100 dinars
($330 or Rs 24,131). Even in the same country, a carpenter had a different minimum wage to a
nurse, a nurse had a different wage to a domestic worker, and so on.
But wages were higher. The wage band for Bahrain varied from 100-300 Bahraini dinars
($265-$796); Kuwait from 100-350 Kuwaiti dinar ($330-$1,155); Oman from 75-500 Omani rials
($195-$1300); Qatar from 1400-3900 Qatari rials ($385-$1071); Saudi Arabia from 1500-2100
Saudi riyals ($400-$560); and UAE from 800-3,000 dirhams ($218-$817).
It was a complicated system that was much abused. Errant employers rigged it—offering
model contracts to workers at home, which they later substituted with a worse contract once
they arrived in the Gulf. Often, workers were told about the substitution in advance.
In November 2014, when India implemented fresh wage hikes, the
spokesperson for the ministry of overseas Indian affairs (merged with the
ministry of external affairs in 2016] told Reuters: “We want the Indian