THE GUEST WORKERS’ WELFARE INDEX (GWWI)
On May 1st, 2019 the Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI) at Qatar
University held an event to present the results from the second wave of the Guest
Workers’ Welfare Index (GWWI). The index is used to measure and track the welfare of
blue-collar guest workers in Qatar. Attendees of the event included Professor Hassan Al-
Derham, President of Qatar University, Professor Hassan Al-Sayed, Director of the
Social & Economic Survey, and representatives of the Ministry of Administrative
Development, Labor and Social Affairs as well as other distinguished guests from
government, non-governmental and private sector organizations.
The results of the GWWI wave 2 were based on a nationally representative survey of
blue-collar guest workers conducted during April 2018. The survey assessed several
aspects of working and living conditions of these workers, including safety and security
at working sites and living compounds, human rights and labor rights, finance and
remittances, as well as their treatment by their employers.
The welfare of migrant laborers around the world has received significant attention from
the global media and scholarly community. In the Gulf, much of this attention has been
directed towards Qatar, especially since the announcement of the FIFA 2022 World Cup.
However, much of the public discussion of the problems has not been based on unbiased,
quantitative and qualitative measurements that can be generalized to the overall migrant
labor population. Reliable data are needed to properly assess the issues surrounding worker
welfare in aggregate, to identify domains where welfare is lower or higher, and ultimately,
to address those issues in most need of improvement.
The 2018 Guest Workers’ Welfare Index (GWWI) is based on results from a nationallyrepresentative
survey conducted with 1,028 blue-collar guest workers in Qatar, and which
will be continued annually. The largest group of respondents came from India (29%),
followed by Nepal (28%), Bangladesh (17%), Pakistan (9%), Egypt (6%), Sri Lanka (4%),
Philippines (3%), and other countries (4%).
THE 2018 OVERALL GUEST WORKERS’ WELFARE
INDEX SCORE IS 81 OUT OF 100
The 2018 Guest Workers’ Welfare Index (GWWI) is evaluated at 81 out of 100, an
increase of 5 points from the 2017 rating (score: 75). The overall score is a composite
measure of the six different factors or sub-indices that compose the index and which are
rated on the same scale from 0 to 100:
Mental Health : 87
Physical Health : 84
Living Conditions : 79
Working Conditions : 85
Contracts : 71
Satisfaction : 79
Rating of the overall Guest Workers’ Welfare Index (GWWI) has increased from 75 in
2017 to 81 in 2018, indicating improvement in the overall welfare of guest workers. The
2017 Index represented a baseline and marked the beginning of an effort to assess and track
the welfare of guest workers in Qatar.
The sub-indices that improved the most since 2017 include contracts, working conditions,
and satisfaction with different aspects of working and living conditions. These ratings
suggest that further improvement in the overall welfare of guest workers requires
continuous efforts in informing workers about their rights, easing their full understanding
of their contracts, and fully honoring their contracts. Going forward, SESRI is conducting
the third annual survey of the Guest Worker Welfare Index in May 2019.
A total of 1,028 guest workers residing in collective housing in Qatar completed the survey
yielding a response rate of 87 percent and a maximum sampling error of +/- 3.4
percentage points. The calculation of this sampling error takes into account the design
effects. The final dataset was weighted to adjust for probability of selection and nonresponse.