The average uneducated expat labourer earns about QR1,200 ($330) a month working in Qatar’s burgeoning construction industry, a survey has revealed.
Labourers with some education take home more than double that ($704), according to the results of a research study by the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the Qatar University.
The survey, published by Arabic papers in the Gulf state and cited by daily Gulf Times, added that up to 80 percent of expat labourers – most of whom come from the sub continent, said they were satisfied with their job and living conditions.
According to the findings, labourers said they were happy to work nine hours a day for six days in a week.
They added that their wages were generally paid on time nd they were able to remit a substantial part of their earnings to their families back home.
The focus of the study was mainly on labourers living in labour camps, the paper said. Domestic maids and servants were excluded.
Qatar’s potential workforce is expected to rise by nearly half a million people by 2030, an increase of 30 percent, a report by Euromonitor International said earlier this month.
Driven by immigration, Qatar’s population grew at an average rate of nearly 12 percent per year in 2000-2010 but the pace will slow dramatically in later years.
The growth is expected to continue as the Gulf state embarks on a number of huge infrastructure projects, such as preparation for the 2022 World Cup and a nationwide railway network.
However, by 2020-2030, the average rate will fall to just 1.2 percent per year, the study added.
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