KOCHI: Idukki resident Sebastian Jose, who has been running a mid-scale interior design firm in the UAE for the last two decades, is facing a predicament. While his elder daughter is planning to settle down in the UK after landing a job in London on completion of her BSc Economics from UCL, London, her younger daughter too plans to pursue higher studies in the UK, and she may too settle down in the European country.
Ajayakumar, a senior citizen, returned to his native Changanassery after 35 years in Bahrain’s hospitality industry. His two daughters, after their schooling in the Gulf country, are working in Bengaluru and the UK respectively.
The two are not isolated cases. The Gulf countries, which once used to be a major destination for Malayalis seeking employment opportunities in the last several decades, have lost their charm for the new generation of youngsters from Kerala. The reasons are many. One is the saturation of the construction sector that once employed a large number of migrant workers, especially during the oil boom of the 1970s.
Second, the young Arabs are highly skilled and competent after completing their higher education in Europe and the US, and they are filling up positions in top and mid-level positions in the service sectors of banking, hospitality and healthcare in the Gulf countries.
No wonder, the children of first-generation migrants in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economies are moving to richer economies lured by better educational facilities and overall higher living standards. Though there are no actual numbers, a 2018 study by the Thiruvananthapuram-based Centre for Development Studies (CDS) put the number of Keralites in West Asia at 18.93 lakh, down from 20.70 lakh in 2013.
“One doesn’t have solid empirical evidence to track the magnitude of secondary migration. But from my observations and conversations, I do feel that children of first-generation migrants are now moving to richer countries with better educational facilities and overall living standards. This is especially true of the children of the first generation educated people,” said Prof K P Kannan, economist.
This is not just confined to the UK but to a host of countries such as the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South East Asian countries like Singapore and Malaysia, he added.
K V Joseph, director of the Thiruvananthapuram-based International Institute of Migration and Development (IIMD), said the attractiveness of the Gulf has declined for young job seekers from Kerala. Immediately after the oil boom in the 1970s, large numbers of unskilled and semi–skilled Keralites migrated to Gulf countries.
“Now there is no demand for unskilled workers, and what remains now are small businessmen, and some technicians,” he said. The people who had gone to the Gulf in the 1970s and 1980s are returning as they can’t settle down there while their children are either going to Europe, US, Canada etc as they can get permanent resident status in these developed nations, explained Joseph.
According to Prof Kannan, the movement of first-generation educated people has set in motion a ‘demonstration effect ‘whereby youngsters from non-migrant families are trying their best to go to non-Gulf countries. “Young women with paramedical educational backgrounds are able to make it given the demand for such jobs in western countries,” he said.
For a Keralite, the Covid pandemic was a period when the Gulf as a destination lost its flavour. The period saw 8.4 lakh returning to Kerala from the GCC economies, of which 5.53 lakh returned after losing their jobs. Is this the end of Malayalees’ Gulf dream?
“But make no mistake. Gulf countries will continue to be a major destination for Kerala migration given the historical connections, familiarity and the increasing demand for educated personnel in these countries,” summed up Prof Kannan.
Arab dream ends?
One of the main reasons is saturation of construction sector that once employed a large number of migrant workers, especially during the oil boom of the 1970s
Young Arabs, who are highly skilled and have completed their education in Europe and the US, are filling up positions in top and mid-level positions in service sectors of banking, hospitality and healthcare in the Gulf countries