Foreign Worker Dependence in the Gulf, and the International Oil Companies: 1910-50

Abstract

"This article demonstrates that foreign worker dependence in the [Persian] Gulf dates from the establishment of the oil industry in the early twentieth century. The composition of labor inflows [was] mainly determined by political and strategic, rather than commercial, concerns. Contrasting patterns of labor force composition evolved between those areas under British control, which imported labor from the Indian sub-continent, and the independent Saudi Arabia where labor was drawn from more diverse sources including the Italian settlers in Eritrea."