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Article

17 Jun 2017

Author:
AFP, khaleejtimes.com

'No more jobs in Qatar': Migrant workers on Gulf crisis frontline

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Ajit, an Indian electrician, is just seven months into his new job but right now he is a worried man, like many other members of the huge migrant workforce in Qatar. He frets not only about his job, his future in the country but also the price of food. "If this continues, there will be problems for people like us, the workers. The price of food will go up and there will be no jobs," he told AFP...Ajit earns 1,000 riyals a month ($275, 240 euros), of which he sends 600 home to his family. He worries he won't be able to do that for much longer...[O]utside the corridors of power, it is Qatar's foreign workforce - totalling more than two million, mostly from south Asia - who are on the frontline when it comes to the immediate impact of the crisis. While Qatar's Western expats are likely to ride out the economic impact, there is no such luxury for Ajit and his colleagues. The rising price of staple foods is just one of their fears. Concerns are also growing about job security and the lack of much-needed overtime as economic uncertainty grows..."I have heard people saying there will be no more jobs in Qatar," added Ajit...Because of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, working hours have already been reduced and there is no chance to make up any shortfall through overtime. Although Qatari officials have...confidently shrugged off the economic impact of isolation, that view is not shared on the country's many construction sites. "I have a father, brother, mother and sisters to look after, I send home 1,500 riyals a month," said Noor-ul-Islam, a 26-year-old mason from Bangladesh. 

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