yemen return migrants survey - 20141 · yemen return migrants survey- 2014 7 the migrants return...

Yemen Return Migrants Survey - 20141

International Labour OrganizationRegional Office for Arab States

1.The report has been developed by Mr. Michele Brune, under supervision from Mr. Azfar Khan, former senior specialist onmigration in the ILO Regional Office for the Arab States, with financial support from the Migration and Governance Network Project (MAGNET).

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First published 2015

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13.07

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Preface Executive SummaryIntroductionThe Yemeni economy and labour marketDeportation from Saudi Arabia ILO surveyHousehold composition and demographic characteristicsMembers and forcibly returned migrantsMarital statusLabour market participationWagesThe forcibly returned migrantsInterviews with the return migrantsWork history in KSARemuneration and benefit entitlements in KSAWorking conditions in KSAReturn to YemenAnnex (A): Questionnaire

5710101111141521222425283136394147

Table of contents

Yemen Return Migrants Survey- 2014 5

Preface

The Central Statistical Organization (CSO) of Yemen and the International Labour Organization (ILO) have the pleasure to present the results of the Migrants Return Survey in Yemen. The survey was carried out in 2014 by the CSO with technical assistance of ILO and financial assistance by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The survey generated representative infor-mation about the background and employment profile and the future plans of the Yemeni migrants forcibly returned from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia over 2013/2014.

The survey also provides information on migration patterns, working conditions and remunera-

tion while abroad, skills acquisition, and employment prospects after return to Yemen. The survey was administered in four governorates with a sample size of 2,414 households.

The ILO would like to place on record its gratitude to the many members of CSO who participat-ed in the successful implementation of the survey under the leadership of Mr. Abdulatif Al-Shibani, who led the entire survey process and Mr. Sam Al-Bashiri, for coordinating the field operations. The survey faced many challenges including the mapping out of the target group and changes in the house-hold address. There were also significant practical challenges due to the events Yemen underwent dur-ing survey implementation. Thanks are also due to Mr. Azfar Khan, the former ILO Senior Migration Specialist and other relevant ILO colleagues in the Regional Office For the Arab States and in Sana’a for providing assistance at all stages of the survey.

ILO and CSO hope that the data and findings presented from this survey complement the re-cently launched findings of the Labour Force Survey 2013/14. Both are envisaged to provide insights and tools to policymakers, international organizations, academics, and civil society organizations concerned with employment and migration policies in Yemen.


The migrants return survey in Yemen has been carried out to study the phenomenon of Yemeni migrants forced to return from Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) after the Nitaqat programme was ap-proved in March 2013. The survey was conducted by the Central Statistical Organization (CSO) of Yemen with technical and financial assistance from International Labour Organization (ILO).

The main objective of this survey is to gain insights into the profile of Yemeni migrants that were forcibly returned from KSA, how they migrated, what they experienced abroad, and what their em-ployment prospects are back home. These insights in turn are hoped to contribute to evidence-based employment and migration policies in Yemen.

The total number of interviewed households was 2,414, located in four governorates: Taiz, Haj-jah, Al-Hodeidah and Al-Mahweit.The main results of the migrants return survey are summarized in the selected indicators presented below.

- Household composition and structure, and socio-economic characteristics of members.

The 2,414 households that compose the sample are located in the four Governorates most af-fected by the repatriation process: Taiz, Hajjah, Al-Hodeidah and Al_Mhweit. The large majority of households (82 per cent) are in rural areas.

The typical household is an extended family composed, on average, of 7 members spanning across three generations, with siblings of the household head living in the same dwelling. Household heads and their spouses make up just over one quarter of household members. Children of household heads were the most numerous category (54.1 per cent) followed by brothers or sisters of the house-hold head2.

We have estimated the average age of household members (both men and women) at 23 years, almost 75 per cent being under 30 and only 7 per cent above 55.

Almost 40 per cent of household members aged 10 and above are illiterate3 , and 73 per cent have never been to school. Educational attainment was found to be inversely related to age and is lower for women than for men; 68 per cent of male household heads did not complete primary education, compared with 88 per cent of their spouses.

The data suggest that age at marriage is quite high, as only 33 per cent of women and men in the 15–29 age group are married. Also, women account for 73.5 per cent of divorcees and 85 per cent of household members whose partners have died.

Some 19.7 per cent of household members aged 15 years and above are employed and 1.1 per cent are self-employed. It is, however, more informative to recall that the employment to population ratio (EPR) of men is around 35 per cent, while women are almost completely absent from the formal labour market. Both situations are in line with the results of the most recent nationally representative household survey4.

2. The category in the dataset is labeled as “Son or daughter”.3. notion of “illiterate” refers to the questionnaire item “I am not able to read and write”.4. See findings of the Child Labour Survey (2010).

Executive Summary

Yemen Return Migrants Survey- 20148

Participation in the labour market is directly related to educational attainment. For men, the pro-portion increases from 25 per cent for those that can to read and write, but have no formal schooling, to 60 per cent for those with greater than high school level of education.

The average wage of respondents (56 per cent of those who declared to be in employment) amounted to US$150 per month, with approximately one third earning less than US$100, one third between US$100 and US$150, and one third earning more than US$150. Income was positively cor-related with educational attainment.

- The forcibly returned migrants

Just over 3,000 members of the families interviewed are return migrants. They include 47.8 per cent of men aged 15 years and older. The age data suggest that more than half of Yemeni men migrate during their lifetime. Almost half are the head of their household, while 37 per cent are the sons of the household head. Just over 50 per cent of migrants have no formal schooling, yet some 29.7 per cent can read and write; around one quarter have completed primary education, 21 per cent second-ary education and 2.5 per cent have some higher level of schooling. Migration appears to be largely a personal decision, although in around one quarter of cases the family played a critical role. These data are not surprising given that more than two-thirds of interviewees are household heads. As expected, younger people were more likely to have migrated.

- Returned migrants5

In some 75 per cent of cases the decision to migrate was taken by the migrants themselves. Among the reasons for migrating were lack of job opportunities in Yemen and their limited working skills. Respondents generally displayed a good understanding of the migration process, which they had often acquired through previous experiences.

The week before departure almost 55 per cent of the return migrants were unemployed and an-other 20.2 per cent were underemployed. Only one quarter had a full-time job, and more than half of these worked in the agricultural sector. Only 6 per cent of the migrants had some technical qualifi-cation, mostly acquired on-the-job, and mainly in the construction sector. Finally, more than 75 per cent of the repatriated migrants had previous migration experiences, and more than 30 per cent had migrated at least 6 times.

All in all, the return migrants who participated in this survey represent the almost unlimited, mainly unqualified, supply of labour ready to leave Yemen – a country characterised by a lack of job opportunities. They responded to the labour demand expressed by the KSA labour market, taking advantage of personal and family knowledge of the migration process.

- The migration process

In this situation, irregular migration represents the norm, the other channels playing a marginal role, with the internet and social media being used almost exclusively by the young. Less than 4 per cent of return migrants had entered KSA using the required documents (even fewer with a regular contract), while only a little more than half of those contracts were honoured in the destination country. Finally, a residual number of migrants were able to sign a contract in KSA, and it is safe to conclude that irregular migration flows were generally destined for jobs in the informal economy of KSA – either in unregistered economic units, or in registered economic units but in forms of employment with serious decent work deficits. 5. The findings of the following sections relate to the 2,414 forcibly repatriated migrants, who responded to the questionnaire in full (Part 2 to 5).


- The working experience in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA)

Not all migrants interviewed were successful in their quest for a job, but more than 30 per cent found more than one. In 45 per cent of cases the jobs were full time; in more than 30 per cent regular part-time, while around 20 per cent were casual daily paid jobs. In more than 60 per cent of cases, the job required some overtime, generally at the request of the employer, and in 70 per cent of cases the working day was greater than 8 hours.

Wages varied significantly, averaging almost US$500 per month, with 5 per cent earning more than US$1,000. Thus, 87 per cent of interviewees considered the wage differential with Yemen ‘very large’ or ‘significantly large’. However, one third of respondents considered the remuneration ‘less than satisfactory’ or ‘not very satisfactory’.

Payments, mostly on a monthly or daily basis, were made regularly in more than 90 per cent of cases. A little more than 20 per cent of interviewees received forms of remuneration complementary to their wage, mainly in the form of food and accommodation.

A positive aspect of the migration process is that one quarter of the migrants acquired some technical skills, the majority through on-the-job training. Almost two-thirds of those who reported returning with additional skills had worked in the construction sector, whereas an additional 20 per cent acquired skills relevant for service-sector jobs.

However, when asked for a general evaluation of working conditions in KSA, only around 6 per cent considered them ‘good’ and around 20 per cent ‘very poor’, with more than 40 per cent judging them ‘poor but bearable’.

- Remittances

Almost all migrants sent remittances home. In more than two-thirds of cases the amount was in excess of half of their wage; in 70 per cent of cases remittances accounted for more than 50 per cent of the family’s income.

- Back to Yemen

In 95 five per cent of cases, KSA authorities justified the forced repatriation of the migrant worker on the grounds of a lack of proper documents. After their return to Yemen, the migrants were confronted with serious difficulties in finding a job. Only a minority succeeded and, at the time of the interview, only around 46 per cent were working, mainly in construction or agriculture. Two-thirds of interviewees stated that it had been ‘extremely difficult’ or ‘quite difficult’ to find a job and the dif-ficulty seemed to increase with age. However, in spite of the shortage of employment opportunities, 6.2 per cent of return migrants who had found employment reported having two or more jobs.

The jobs performed by returnees were mostly poorly paid and poorly protected. In only 30 per cent of cases the wage exceeded US$59 per month. The majority were short-term jobs, generally paid on a daily basis. Only 25 per cent of jobs were expected to last more than one year. Around one third of returnees reported working less than 8 hours per day, while in 30 per cent of cases the employer required overtime work.

Given the job market situation, it comes as no surprise that more than 90 per cent of interviewees affirmed that, given the opportunity, they would go back to KSA, and that almost half of them were willing to migrate through irregular migration channels.


1. Introduction

In March 2013, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) approved the Nitaqat programme, aimed at increasing job opportunities for Saudi citizens, and ruled that illegal workers would no longer be tolerated. As a consequence, hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants were forcefully repatriated. Neighbouring Yemen was the country most affected. According to International Organization for Mi-gration, (IOM) by the end of 2014 almost 600,000 Yemenites had returned to Yemen, mainly through the border crossing point of Al-Tuwal.

Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the world, was already in a deteriorating situation, when its backward economic system was faced with the impossible task of creating sufficient jobs to cope the sudden increase in labour supply brought about by the demographic transition. It was evident that the repatriation of such a high number of migrants would have an extreme impact on the economic situation of Yemen, which has relied heavily on remittances.

ILO decided to carry out a Rapid Assessment Survey to collect the information necessary to de-vise and implement evidence-based relief policies. A questionnaire, comprised of a cover page and six sections, was submitted to 2,414 households. The questionnaire addressed such issues as who the returned migrants were, the demographic and economic profile of their household members, the migra-tion experience and, finally, the labour market and economic situation of the forcibly returned migrants.

2. The Yemeni economy and labour market

At the time of drafting this paper a coalition of ten countries led by Saudi Arabia, and including the other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and Egypt, is conducting a military campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen. With the support of the United States of America, numerous targets have been bombed, including in the capital, Sanaa. Inevitably, this will lead to further deterioration of an already stressed social and economic situation.

Poverty has been progressively increasing in Yemen – so much that in 2014 more than half of the population were affected and a similar proportion experienced food insecurity. Moreover, water resources remain scarce.

The dismal situation of the Yemeni economy and labour market is also a product of demographic trends. Estimated at 24.8 million, Yemen’s population has witnessed a fivefold increase in the last 50 years, making demographic pressure the dominant feature of the Yemeni labour market. The popula-tion is predominantly young, with 43 per cent below 15 years of age, and over 65 per cent below 25. Of these, almost half (48 per cent) are not in education, employment, or training6.

Even if the rate of population growth is decreasing, demographic pressure on Yemen’s labour mar-ket will continue due to the palpable increase in the training age population (6–17) and especially Ye-men’s working age population (15–64). In the past decade, the number of children in compulsory educa-tion age has increased by around 750,000 and the working age population has increased by 4.1 million.

Yemen’s labour force participation rate currently stands at just 36.3 per cent. Almost 14 per cent of people in the labour force are unemployed, primarily in the 15–24 age group. Youth unemployment rates in Yemen are two times higher than adult employment rates; only one out of five young people in Yemen is employed – one in three young men and one in 40 young women.

In the coming years the number of entrants into the labour market will increase. Therefore, the number of additional jobs the Yemeni economy will need to create will be totally out of reach and 6. Bruni, Michele, Salvini Andrea, Uhlenhaut Lara (2014), “Demographic and labour market trends in Yemen: a background paper to frame the interface between the employment challenge and the national migration policy”, International Labour Organization, ILO Regional Office for the Arab States, Beirut.


migration will be not an option, but a necessity, for a large share of the Yemeni population. An additional problem is that Yemen’s young workforce still shows noticeable deficits in educa-

tional levels. More than half of Yemen’s labour force (54.8 per cent) has not completed compulsory education and those with at least secondary education represent less than 30 per cent. Education deficits are also the result of a lack of an overarching unified vision for the development of Yemen’s education, training and skills sectors. A skills gap (or deficit) continues to be the most widely reported problem by employers in Yemen.

3. Deportation from Saudi Arabia

After decades during which Saudi Arabia used millions of (mainly illegal) migrants to do the manual jobs that Saudis did not want, in March 2013 Riyadh approved a nationwide strategy (the Nitaqat programme) aimed at increasing job opportunities for Saudi citizens, and ruled that illegal workers would no longer be tolerated. After a short grace period, requested by Yemen and Ethiopia, the programme was implemented, prompting large-scale deportations, often without notice.

Due to its immediate land proximity, Yemen has been the country most affected and the impact has been massive. Between June 2013 and December 2014, IOM counted 655,339 repatriated work-ers, mainly through the border crossing point of Al-Tuwal, approximately 10 km north of Haradh in the Hajjah Governorate7. Such a phenomenon has obviously raised very serious concerns over the way the deportations have been carried out, especially their effects on Yemen8.

According to IOM Yemen snapshots, “many deportees report being taken directly from the street to detention facilities with no chance to gather their belongings. Packed into cells, some say they were beaten and robbed of what little they had on them.”

It was also observed that the authorities in Sanaa were ill-equipped to cope with the long-term fallout because the country is in far worse condition than it was two decades ago. Yemen must also figure out how to fill a gaping hole in remittances as the billions of dollars that workers send home each will sharply decline.

4. ILO survey

The situation in Yemen prompted the ILO to run a survey to collect the information necessary to devise and implement evidence-based relief policies. ILO indicated that the information should relate to “the background profile of the returnees and their household’s members, the labour utilization pat-terns adopted by the households, the process of recruitment, the employments they were holding in KSA, the remuneration from work, the proportion of household income constituted of remittances and the utilization pattern of remittances to gauge their importance for household reproduction” and also the “employment profile after return to Yemen, skills acquisition, their earnings from present work and their future plans.”9

7. IOM Yemen Snapshot: Yemeni Migrants from Sausdi Arabia Update (December 2014; see also “IOM provides vital assistance to Yemeni returnees from Mecca” https://www.iom.int/files/live/.../iom/.../IOM-Flash-Report-41.pdf .8. On the same occasion IOM reported that “interviews with the returning migrants suggested that only 29 per cent of them had been economically active in Saudi Arabia and only 24 per cent had sent remittances home to their families in Yemen. Of those who sent remittances, the majority sent between 400 SAR and 800 SAR (US$ 107–US$213.) The data collected seems to indicate that most of the returnees were short-term migrants who had managed to remain in Saudi Arabia for less than 1 month (68 per cent), whereas 29 per cent of them had stayed between 1 to 12 months. Some 77 per cent of the returnees reported some form of abuse in Saudi Arabia, but 68 per cent said that they planned to return shortly.”9. The Questionnaire is contained in Annex 1.


- The questionnaire

The questionnaire comprises a cover page and five sections, Section 1 being split into two parts: Section 1A and Section 1B.

Cover page

The questions on the cover page were answered directly by the interviewers. Besides informa-tion on the interviewing process, these items included the number of families interviewed, their geo-graphical distribution by district, their location in urban and rural areas, the total number of household members, as well as details on eligible return migrants.

Section 1A: Household composition and demographic characteristics

Section 1A included ten questions divided into two pages and numbered from 101 to 105 and from 201 to 205, respectively. The interviewer was instructed to address questions to the most knowl-edgeable member of the household. The first set of items included the name, sex, age, marital status, and relationship with the household head; the second set on educational attainment, employment situ-ation, and main occupation.

Section 1B: Migration history

This section addressed the return migrants’ experience. It was comprised of 18 questions (101-118) on the following variables:

• sex and age of the migrant;• the length of time spent in KSA before the forced return (date of departure and date of

return);• the channels (legal and illegal) through which the migrant reached KSA;• who took the decision to migrate;• the situation of the migrant before departure with respect to the labour market;• the existence or not of a contract, whether it was honoured, and whether the migrant had

regular working documents. Section 2: Work history in KSA

This section comprised 17 questions (201-217), relating to the following variables: • the number of migration experiences and the migration channels used to migrate; • the skills and certified qualifications possessed prior to the last migration experience; • the number of jobs held in KSA, their typology and sector;• the acquisition of skills during the stay in KSA.

Section 3: Income, remuneration and benefit entitlements

This section included ten questions (301-310) on:• the average wage earned in KSA;• the wage differential between Yemen and KSA;


• the level of satisfaction derived from working in KSA;• the punctuality and timing of payments;• the presence and typology of fringe benefits;• the amount of remittances in relation to the wage;• the relevance of remittances for the Yemeni household and their utilization.

Section 4: Working conditions in KSA

This section included five questions (401-405) on: • the average duration of the working day;• any obligation to work overtime;• working conditions.

Section 5: Return to Yemen

This section included 17 questions (501-517) on: • the motivation adduced for repatriation; • working conditions, including reliability of the job;• difficulties encountered finding a job;• characteristics of the job;• wages; • the average duration of the working day;• overtime;• willingness to migrate again.

- The database

Information collected via the questionnaire was entered in a database comprising three separate files, each identified by a code. The first file contains the answers to the questions on the cover page. These relate to the number of families interviewed, their geographical distribution, the number of components (as well as some basic information such as the relationship with the family head, the edu-cational attainment, and economic activity) and the number of forcibly returned migrants.

The second file contains the answers to the question in Section 1A and allows analysis of the household structure, and the main demographic and socio-economic characteristics of its members (including the forcibly returned migrants) and some basic information on labour market participation.

The third file, the most voluminous one, contains all the information about the forcibly returned migrants, representing their family and economic situation before departure, the migration process, the working experience in KSA, and the situation after returning to Yemen.

- Data analysis

The three files containing the survey data were first analyzed separately as per the structure of the questionnaire – moving from the households, onto the household members, and finally to the forcibly returned migrants. In a second phase the three files were combined in order to analyse some more complex issues.


- Interviewees

The questionnaire was administered to 2,414 households. The interviewers were instructed to complete the cover page directly, to put the questions in Section 1A to the most knowledgeable mem-ber of household, and the questions of the other sections to the returned migrants. Our analysis has, however, shown that in 2,044 cases the interviewee was the migrant himself, while in the other 361 cases the respondent was another member of the family. Moreover, since in more than one quarter of the families there was more than one migrant, the interviewers were instructed to choose the person who had been in KSA for the longest period.

- Critical observations

The main limit of the questionnaire is represented by the fact that only five interviewees were women. For this reason, a comparison between women and men and any gender sensitive analysis of employment outcomes of returnees would not have been reliable. Therefore, this has not been at-tempted. Finally, if surveys with such questionnaires have to be repeated, it is suggested to include more information on how migrants entered KSA, how they found a job, and more questions on re-cruitment and placement processes.

5. Households - Geographical distribution

The families interviewed are located in four out of the 20 governorates (and one municipality) that comprise Yemen: Taiz, Hajjah, Al-Hodeidah and Al_Mhweit. These governorates were chosen because they are the ones in which the majority of return migrants were directed.

Figure 1 shows the geographical distribution of the families. Around 34 per cent live in Al-Ho-deidah, 25 per cent each in Hajjah and Taiz, and approximately 17 per cent in Al Mhweit.

Figure 1: Percentage distribution of interviewed households by governorate

40.0

35.0

30.0

25.0

20.0

15.0

10.0

5.5

0.0

16.624.824.933.8

Al-Hodeidah% families

Hajjah Taiz Al-Mhwit

Some 81.9 per cent of households are in rural areas, with an average proportion of urban house-holds across the survey of 18.1 per cent (Figure 2).


Figure 2: Percentage distribution of interviewed households in urban areas

25.0

20.0

15.0

10.0

5.5

0.0

18.17.816.821.523.7

-AlHodeidah Hajjah

% urban fam.

TaizAl-Mhwit Total

6. Members and forcibly returned migrants

Household members totalled 17,211 people, 54.4 per cent of whom were male. The average size of each household was 7.1 people. The difference between rural (7.2) and urban (7.0) households was found to be minimal (Table 1), except for Taiz, where urban families were found to be larger than rural ones (9.1 versus 8.2).

Table 1: Average number of household members by governorate (urban/rural)

Urban

TaizHajjahAl-HodeidahAl-MhweitTotal

9.16.86.76.77.0

8.26.86.57.17.2

8.36.86.57.17.1

Rural Total

This small difference in the average number of household members between governorates and the urban/rural locations impacts, although in a limited way, on the geographical distribution of the members (Table 2). More specifically, in Taiz and Hajjah the percentage of household members is higher than that of the households, the opposite being true for the other two governorates.


Table 2: Household membership by governorate and urban/rural location (abso-lute values and percentages)

According to the data from the cover page, the number of eligible return migrants interviewed is 3064. This implies that 17.8 per cent of household members were returned migrants and in almost 27 per cent of households there was more than one return migrant. The proportion of household members who are return migrants does not differ between governorates, the maximum being 20.3 per cent in Hajjah and the minimum of 15.7 per cent in Taiz. Greater differences were found (Figure 3) in the percentage of families with more than one return migrant, the phenomenon being more widespread in Hajjah (38.5 per cent) and Taiz (30.3 per cent) than in Al-Hodeidah (19.8 per cent) and Al_Mhweit (19.5 per cent).


Figure 3: Households with more than one return migrant by governorate (percentages)

40.0

30.0

20.0

10.0

0.0

17.8

27.0

16.9

19.5

18.3

19.8

15.7

30.3

20.3

38.5

Al-HodeidahHajjah% of migrants on the number offamily members

% of families wih more than 1migrant

Taiz Al-Mhwit Total

As we will discuss later, 650 eligible migrants were not interviewed and neither were almost all the women. Moreover, the household members file contains information for only 593 of these returned migrants.

- Household members by relationship with the household head

Almost 80 per cent of household members fall into three categories: 14.1 per cent are household heads (in only 10 cases was the head of the household found to be a woman), 13 per cent are spouses and 51.4 per cent sons or daughters. Of the remaining categories the most relevant is brother or sister (8.7 per cent) followed by father or mother (4.1 per cent) and grandchildren (4 per cent). Finally, 2.7 per cent are sons- or daughters–in-law (Table 3).

Table 3: Household members by relationship to household head


The first three categories for males are i) household head (25.7 per cent), ii) son (56.9 per cent), and iii) brother (9.5 per cent), totalling 92.1 per cent. Women are less concentrated. The first three categories for females are i) spouse (28.4 per cent), ii) daughter (44.7 per cent); and iii) sister (7.8 per cent), totalling 80.9 per cent. In the case of women the categories of mother (6 per cent) and daughter-in-law (5.8 per cent) are also relevant. This difference between genders is explained by the fact that women live longer and 98 per cent of the in-laws are women. This reflects that the role of head of the household is nominally assigned to men for cultural reasons. The explanation of this last phenom-enon is that at marriage women join the household of the husband. These extended families not only include two or three generations but, in case of marriage, the son brings his wife to his household.

- Average age

The average age is quite low, with almost 75 per cent of household members being aged under 30 years and only 7 per cent aged over 55 years.

Figure 4: Household members by age group (percentages)

45.040.035.030.025.020.015.010.0

5.00.0

0-14

35.2HM

15-29

38.2

30-54

19.6

55+

7.0

More specifically, the average age is 23 for both men and women (Table 4). The average age of household heads is 41 and that of their spouses 36; a similar difference exists between the average age of fathers (62) and mothers (56) and that of sons (30) and daughters-in-law (24).


Table 4: Average age of household members by relationship with the household head

- Educational attainment

Levels of educational attainment were found to be extremely modest. Almost 40 per cent of household members are illiterate and 33.5 per cent have only a basic capacity of reading and writing acquired outside the education system. Only 27.4 per cent have some schooling – 14 per cent have completed primary education, 10.9 per cent secondary education and a meagre 2.5 per cent have some higher educational level.

Figure 5: Literacy and educational attainment of household members aged 5 years and over (percentages)

45.0

40.0

35.0

30.0

25.0

20.0

15.0

10.0

5.0

0.0

39.1

33.5

14.010.9

2.5

illiterate R&W Primary Secondary Over Sec


Educational attainment was found to be inversely related to age. Almost all parents of household heads have no schooling; the percentage declines to 68 per cent for the household heads, but is still 88 per cent for spouses and 57 per cent for sons- and daughters-in-law (Table 5 and Figure 6).10

Table 5: Education level of household members (by relationship to household head; percentages)

Figure 6: Educational attainment of household members (by relationship to house-hold head; percentages)

35.0

30.0

25.0

20.0

15.0

10.0

5.0

0.0

12.130.9

18.917.8

16.016.4

17.214.4

6.37.5

5.17.3

14.013.4

TotalSpouseOtherrelatives

Son/Daughter

Householdhead

Brother/Sister

Son/Daughter

in lawPrimaryMore than primary

The gender differential is very pronounced. More than half of the women are totally illiterate compared with less than one quarter of men. Some 38.4 per cent of men have more than primary edu-cation compared with 21.9 per cent of women.

10. These data generally agree with those derived from the labour force survey.


Table 6: Literacy and educational attainment by sex (percentages)

Men Women Diff.Illiterate 22.8 52.6 29.8R&W (no schooling) 38.8 25.5 -13.3< Than Secondary 20.7 10.0 -10.7Secondary and Diploma 15.3 10.9 -4.4University 2.4 1.0 -1.4

7. Marital status

If we consider household members 15 years or older, only 58.6 per cent are or have been mar-ried. 11 This goes together with observing that the age at marriage is quite high – in fact, only one third of those between 15 and 29 are married. Even in the next higher age group the percentage of singles is still 12.3 per cent. However, the data also suggest that during their lifetime almost everybody gets married.

Table 7: Marital status by age group (absolute values and percentages)12

15-29 30-49 50-64 65+ Total

Married 2,267 2,260 1,189 359 6,075Widow 8 70 167 116 361Divorced 15 27 4 3 49

Total 2,290 2,357 1,360 478 6,485Single 4,227 331 19 5 4,582

Total 6,517 2,688 1,379 483 11,067

Married 34.8 84.1 86.2 74.3 54.9Widow 0.1 2.6 12.1 24.0 3.3Divorced 0.2 1.0 0.3 0.6 0.4

Total 35.1 87.7 98.6 99.0 58.6Single 64.9 12.3 1.4 1.0 41.4

Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Absolute values

Percentage composition

For reasons that are not clear, but could be connected to migration patterns, men represent the majority of household members 15 or older (55.1 per cent). Therefore, the percentage of women who are married (51.4 per cent) is higher than that of men (43.2 per cent). We also observe that women account for 73.5 per cent of divorcees and 85 per cent of household members whose spouses had died, which suggests that women have a higher life expectancy but they find it quite difficult to find a second husband.

11. The survey has also found a small number of household members already married in the 0–14 age group. 12. The term “widow” refers to both husbands and wives whose spouse/s have passed away.


Figure 7: Marital status by sex (percentages)

60.0

50.0

40.0

30.0

20.0

10.0

0.0

43.251.4

55.842.7

0.20.6

0.85.3

Men

Women

Married Single Divorced Widow

8. Labour market participation

Only around one out of five household members 10 years or older participate in some kind of activity. More specifically, 19 per cent are employees and 1 per cent are self-employed (Table 8).

As suggested by the Child Labour Survey (2010), women are almost completely absent from the formal labour market. Obviously, this leaves completely open the question of their informal participa-tion to productive activities, especially considering the rural location of the vast majority of house-holds interviewed.13

As shown by Salvini et al. (2014), 35 per cent of men have some form of employment, while only 2 per cent are self-employed. For women, the employment to population ratio is as low as 1.3 per cent.

Table 8: Labour market participation of household members (aged 10 years and over) by sex

Employed Self-employed Total employed Inactive Total

Men 2,333 137 2,470 4,667 7,137Women 71 4 75 5,706 5,781Total 2,404 141 2,545 10,373 12,918

Men 32.7 1.9 34.6 65.4 100.0Women 1.2 0.1 1.3 98.7 100.0Total 18.6 1.1 19.7 80.3 100.0

Absolute value

Percentage compoisition

13. See Salvini et al., op. cit.


Table 9: Labour market participation by age group (absolute values and percentages)

10-14 15-29 30-54 55+ 15 +

Employed 17 1,307 982 239 2,528Self-employed 1 191 186 45 422Total active 18 1,498 1,168 284 2,950Inactive 1,896 4,995 2,160 909 8,064Population 1,914 6,493 3,328 1,193 11,014

Employed 0.9 20.1 29.5 20.0 23.0Self-employed 0.1 2.9 5.6 3.8 3.8Total active 0.9 23.1 35.1 23.8 26.8Inactive 99.1 76.9 64.9 76.2 73.2Population 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

As percentage of population 10 and +

Absolute values

The employment to population ratio for men is directly related to educational attainment. For men, the value increases from 25 per cent for those who can read and write (but have no formal schooling) to 60 per cent for those with more than high school, passing through a value of 41 per cent for those with primary school and 44 per cent for those with secondary or vocational school. Some 34 per cent of the total are illiterate.

The number of observations for women is very low, but they suggest an even more extreme situa-tion showing that women with high educational level are much more likely to be present in the labour market.

Table 10: Labour market participation and employment to population ratio (RoE) by educational attainment and sex (Correct: RoE and Total Employment viz Totals)


9. Wages

Information on income earned the week before migrating to KSA was provided by 1,656 house-hold members (representing 56 per cent of the employed). The average monthly wage amounts to just over 32,000 Riels (US$150). Approximately one third of those employed earned less than US$100, one third between US$100 and US$150, and 30 per cent earned more than the mean (Table 11).

Table 11: Wage levels by educational attainment (absolute values and percentages)

Table 12 shows the ratios of the specific share for each education group to the average share for the total, divided into the four wage categories we have defined. Data show a positive relationship be-tween educational attainment and wage level. Vocational training appears to be especially rewarding.

Table 12: Ratios of the specific shares to the average share for each wage category

up to 10,000IlliterateR&W and PreprPrimary, UnifVocationalSecondary and Dipl.University

1.31.10.80.50.90.3

1.11.10.80.81.10.7

1.00.91.20.91.00.8

0.91.01.11.50.91.7

20,000 30,000 40,000 up


The average monthly income of those who are self-employed is slightly lower than that of em-ployees.

Income levels of self-employed workers (absolute values and percentages)

Independent workers

Independent workers

up to 10,000 20,000

Absolute value52 49 87 80 268

19.4 18.3 32.5 29.9 100.0Percentage composition

30,000 40,000 up Total

10. The forcibly returned migrants

While repatriated workers represent 17.5 per cent of household members, this figure is somewhat misleading as it does not apply equally to all categories. Firstly, only 68 of the 3,007 returnees are women. Secondly, only 25 are under 15 years of age. Rather, it is more useful to observe that return migrants comprise 47.8 per cent of men aged 15 and over. We also observe that return migrants ac-count for 62 per cent of the 30–54 age group. These data suggest that more than half of Yemeni men experience migration during their lifetime.

Table 13: Forcibly returned migrants by age group and sex (absolute values and percentages)

The first important characteristic of the repatriated migrants is that almost half of them are house-hold heads and, even more interestingly, 67.3 per cent of the households heads interviewed are forc-ibly returned migrants. The second largest category is that of ‘son or daughter’, which represents 36.8 per cent of returnees and the third largest is ‘brother or sister’ (7.4 per cent), leaving only a 1.2 per cent to all other categories.


Table 14: Forcibly returned migrants by relationship to household head, inter-viewed or not (absolute values and percentages) 14

In agreement with previous data on the distribution of household members by marital status, some 62 per cent of returnees are married and 37.4 per cent are single.

Table 15: Marital status of returned migrants (absolute values and percentages)

Just over half of the return migrants have no formal schooling. Nevertheless, 29.7 per cent can still read and write. Around one quarter have completed primary education, 21 per cent secondary education and 2.5 per cent have some higher level of schooling (Figure 8). Of the 60 women return-ees for whom we have data on educational attainment, 58 have no formal schooling and 2 completed secondary education.

14 It is important to note that only a share of the returnees were interviewed, and we highlight that interviewed and non-interviewed returnees shows different characteristics.


Figure 8: Educational attainment of returned migrants (RM, percentages)

35.0

30.0

25.0

20.0

15.0

10.0

5.5

0.0

RM

UniversityVocationalPrimaryUnif.

R&W andPreprim

illitreate Secondaryand Dipl.

The employment to population ratio is 57.1 per cent, including 6.6 per cent self-employed. In addition, 2.7 per cent declared being employed as well as working independently (Table 16).

Table 16: Male returned migrants by labour market participation (absolute values and percentages) (review Table 16, category Both empl. And self employed)

employedself-employedTotalInactive TotalBoth empl. and self employed

Ab. Value % comp1,481

1951,6761,2592,935

78

50.56.6

57.142.9

100.02.7

The data suggest that, prior to departing Yemen, migrants’ wages were slightly higher than aver-age, to be expected given their demographic and socio-economic characteristics (Table 17).

Table 17: Wage levels of migrants prior to leaving Yemen (absolute values and per-centages)


11. Interviews with the return migrants

As stated, only one return migrant for each household was interviewed. Where more than one returnee was present in the household, interviewers were instructed to interview the one who lived in KSA for a longer period. In 2,044 cases the interviewee was a returned migrant, while in the other 360 cases was another member of the family. Only five interviewees were women.

- Age and sex

On average, interviewed returnees are young – 55.1 per cent were aged under 30 years and only 10.1 per cent over 50 years, a similar distribution to other household members. This age distribution fits also the few women present in the sample.

Table 18: Forcibly returned migrants interviewed15 , age by sex (absolute values and percentages)

- Working situation before departure

The employment to population ratio of other interviewees is lower than that of the forcibly re-turned (45.3 per cent versus 57.1 per cent). If this information is suggestive of the motivation for mi-grating, it must, however, be noted that the answers to the question put to interviewees do not include self-employment.

15. From this table onwards, the tables refer to only returned migrants who were interviewed.


Table 19: Return migrants, labour market participation by age group (absolute values and percentages)

The employment to population ratio is 40.1 per cent for the first age group, peaks at 53.2 per cent in the central age group, then declines to 46.3 for the older migrants.

More than half of the employed worked in non-agricultural sectors (27.9 per cent of the total), but only 7.7 per cent had full-time jobs, and 20.2 per cent had some form of part-time employment. The central age group registers values above average for both full-time and part-time employment.

Agriculture provided employment to 17.4 per cent of the return migrants: 11.6 per cent attended their own fields, while 5.8 per cent worked on other properties. For the former the highest percentage (14.9 per cent) comprised older migrants, for the latter by those in the central age group (7.2 per cent).

Obviously the indicator of inactivity presents a mirror image of the employment to population ratio. The proportion of inactive interviewees is higher than for the total of the forcibly returned (53.7 per cent versus 42.9 per cent). It is more pronounced for the young (59.9 per cent) and for the elderly (53.7 per cent), with a minimum for those in the central age group (46.8 per cent). The main point is, however, that inactivity was the prevailing situation of returnees the week before departure from Ye-men (54.7 per cent).

- The decision to migrate

In some 73.3 per cent of cases the decision to migrate was taken by the migrants themselves, ranging from 68.8 per cent for the youngest group to 83.1 for the oldest. This is consistent with the central role that they tended to play in their households.


Table 20: Decision to migrate by age group (absolute values and percentages)

15-29 30-49 50+ TotalOwn decision 910 649 202 1,761Household decision 413 186 41 640

Total 1,323 835 243 2,401Not stated 6 13

Total 1,329 842 243 2,414Own decision 68.8 77.7 83.1 73.3

- Migration channels, documents and contracts

Almost all migrants (95.8 percent) entered KSA illegally, the percentage declining slightly with age, but still above 90 per cent for the oldest group. Other possible channels (freelance agents, li-censed companies, relatives and friends) all played a minor role, social networks being used mainly by the young in absolute terms (Table 21).

Table 21: Channels of migration by age group (absolute values and percentages)

Only a small number (3.9 per cent) had proper documents, the number rising with age (Table 22).

Table 22: Legality of migration by age group (absolute values and percentages)

Only a small minority of interviewed returnees (2.6 per cent) left the country with a contract; moreover, just over half of these contracts were honoured once in KSA. An even smaller number were able to sign a contract. In short, none of the illegal immigrants was able to enjoy a legal situation once in the arrival country. In percentage terms, older people enjoyed a more regular contractual situation at departure, but they also saw their contracts less respected (Table 23).


Table 23: Contractual situation by age group

- Departure, return and duration of stay in KSA

The great majority of interviewees were repatriated in 2013 (85 per cent); the remainder, with very few exceptions, were returned in 2014. Data suggest that the period spent in KSA by migrants was, on average, rather short: only 12 per cent spent more than two years in KSA, and another 24.5 per cent between one and two years. The remaining 67 per cent had been in KSA for less than 12 months. The migrants repatriated in 2014 register an average stay a little longer than those repatriated in 2013.

Figure 9: Duration of stay in KSA by year of return (percentages, in months)

12. Work history in KSA

Multiple periods of migration is very common. Some 78 per cent of return migrants have been abroad more than once, the percentage increasing with age from 69.2 per cent for the young to 90.9 per cent for the old (Table 24).

40.035.030.025.020.015.010.05.00.0

Totalup to 6“7-1213-14over 24

2014201331.731.624.212.5

29.537.226.37.1

31.432.424.511.7


Table 24: Multiple migration (more than once) by age group

More than 1Return migrants% over the total

9201,32969.2

741842

88.0

221243

90.9

1,8822,41478.0

15 - 29 30 - 49 50 + Total

As expected, the number of migration experiences increased with age. The details are displayed in Table 25, separated into number of migration experiences.

Table 25: Number of work experiences abroad by age group (absolute values and percentages)

15-29 30-49 50+ Total 15-30 30-50 50+ Totalonce 409 101 22 532 30.8 12.0 9.1 22.0twice 240 101 14 355 18.1 12.0 5.8 14.73 times 212 114 14 340 16.0 13.5 5.8 14.14 times 124 83 11 218 9.3 9.9 4.5 9.05 times 89 66 23 178 6.7 7.8 9.5 7.41 to 5 665 364 62 1091 50.0 43.2 25.5 45.26 times 46 42 9 97 3.5 5.0 3.7 4.07 times 44 51 14 109 3.3 6.1 5.8 4.58 times 30 40 8 78 2.3 4.8 3.3 3.29 times 15 18 4 37 1.1 2.1 1.6 1.510 times 38 70 34 142 2.9 8.3 14.0 5.96 to 10 173 221 69 463 13.0 26.2 28.4 19.2More than 10 82 156 90 328 6.2 18.5 37.0 13.6

1329 842 243 2414 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Illegal migration is the norm; just 2.4 per cent of interviewed returnees have always travelled legally and 5.6 per cent sometimes legally. The percentage of ‘always illegal’ is most pronounced for the young (95.6 per cent), declining with age to 81.4 per cent for those aged over 50 years (Table 26).

Table 26: Legal status of migration by age group (absolute values and percentages)


During their stay in KSA, around 70 per cent of interviewed returnees held only one job, 17.7 per cent held two, and 12.5 more than two jobs (Table 27).

Table 27: Number of jobs held in KSA by age group (absolute values and percentages)

According to their own evaluation, on average only 6 per cent of interviewed returnees had some qualification before migrating to KSA, although just 2.1 per cent of older migrants held qualifications. These pertained mainly to occupations in the construction sector (62.1 per cent), domestic work (15.9 per cent) and unspecified occupations in the service sector. No clear pattern of occupation typology emerged in relation to migrants’ age (Table 28).

Table 28: Skill sector before migration to KSA by age group (absolute values and percentages)

Skills had been acquired mainly through on-the-job training (81.4 per cent) and apprenticeships (13.8 per cent), with very few having received formal training (4.8 per cent) (Table 29).


Table 29: Acquisition of skills in Yemen by age group (absolute values and percent-ages)

Further, around one quarter of migrants acquired some skill while in KSA. The main sectors were construction (63.1 per cent), the service sector (20 per cent), and the industrial sector (6.7 per cent). In the case of construction the percentage increases with age, in the other two sectors we ob-serve the opposite pattern (Table 30).

Table 30: Sector in which skills acquired in KSA by age group (absolute values and percentages)


Almost all learning took place on the job, apprenticeships accounting for less than 3 per cent (Table 31).

Table 31: Method of skill acquisition in KSA by age group (absolute values and percentages)

Almost 45 per cent of workers had a full-time job, 35.8 per cent held a regular part-time job, and 19.4 per cent were daily workers. Young people were more likely to hold full-time and regular part-time jobs, while older people were more likely to be employed on a daily basis.

Table 32: Type of employment by age group (absolute values and percentages)

A small minority of interviewed returnees, mainly young or in the central age group, held more than one job. In the case of the first job, 55.2 per cent were in the construction sector, 16.1 per cent in the service sector and 11.4 per cent in agriculture. In the case of the second job, the first three sectors are the same, but have a different ranking, and the inter-sector variance is much more pronounced.


Table 33: First and second jobs by sector (percentage distribution)

13. Remuneration and benefit entitlements in KSA

- Wages and other benefits

Migrants earned an extremely high variation in wages in KSA, ranging from 30 to 30,000 SAR per month. The average wage is around 1,815 SAR (US$490), declining to 1,772 SAR (US$478) if we exclude wages below US$50 and above US$1,500. Five per cent of these return migrants earned a wage above US$1,000 (Figure 10).

Figure 10: Earnings (SAR) of return migrants in KSA (percentage distribution)

35.0

30.0

25.0

20.0

15.0

10.0

5.0

0.0

3.5

501-1000

19.9

1001-1500

31.0

1501-2000

18.1

2001-250

10.2

2501-3000

12.3 5.0%

up to 500 more than3000

A certain number of migrants received additional benefits (Figure 11). The most common kinds of benefit were food and accommodation (living quarters), provided to around 25 per cent of the migrants. Other kinds of benefit included transport (6.1 per cent), bonuses (4.5 per cent) and health insurance (5.9 per cent) (Figure 11).


Figure 11: Additional benefits (percentages)

30.0

25.0

20.0

15.0

10.0

5.0

0.0

% 28.0 26.7 6.1 5.9 4.5Food Transport Cost Health InsuranceLiving quarters Bonuses

- Income differential

Moving to questions on the quality of life, the difference in income between KSA and Yemen was considered ‘very large’ by 47.3 per cent of the respondents and ‘somewhat large’ by 39.1 per cent (Table 34).

Table 34: Opinion on the wage differential between Yemen and KSA by age group (absolute values and percentages)

However, one third of the migrants judged the work and the earnings in KSA as ‘not very sat-isfactory’ or ‘less than satisfactory’. Only 13.5 per cent found them ‘very satisfactory’, and 54.2 per cent ‘adequate’ (Table 35).


Table 35: Opinion on wage levels in KSA by age group (absolute values and per-centages)

- Frequency and regularity of payments

Payments were largely made on a monthly basis (50.8 per cent) or on a daily basis (34.1 per cent). Only 0.3 per cent of the workers were paid per job performed (Table 36). Regularity of pay-ments was assured in nearly 90 per cent of cases.

Table 36: Frequency of payments by age group (absolute values and percentages)

- Remittances

Economic provision for the family at home represented the main motivation for migrants work-ing abroad. Accordingly, sending remittances is the norm: 45.2 per cent of respondents declared that


they were sending between 50 and 75 per cent of their income. An even greater proportion was re-mitted by 21.3 per cent (Table 37). There is some indication that older workers sent home a greater proportion of their income.

Table 37: Proportion of earnings sent home by age group (absolute values and per-centages)

The economic importance of remittances is made clear by the fact that in 44.1 per cent of cases they represent more than 75 per cent of family income. In some 26.2 per cent of cases, remittances accounted for between 50 per cent and 75 per cent of family income (Table 38).

Table 38: Economic relevance of remittances to the family by age group of return migrant (absolute values and percentages)

14. Working conditions in KSA

This sections aims to assess the number of hours worked during the day, the reason for working overtime and the conditions of work.


- Number of hours worked per day

Around one third of migrants worked eight hours per day. Sixty per cent worked more than 8 hours, and 6 per cent worked less than 8 hours per day. The percentage of people working more than 8 hours increases to almost 78 per cent when we consider the total time spent working during the day. In only in a very small percentage of cases (3 per cent) overtime was chosen by the worker. The percent-age of people working overtime declines with age (Figure 13). (clarify that there are two questions)

Figure 13: Number of hours worked per day (percentages) (there are two questions: one relates to day, the other to job)

70.0

60.0

50.0

40.0

30.0

20.0

10.0

0.08 9-10

6.32.0

33.620.7

28.958.7

31.118.6

less than 8Job

Day

More than 10

- Working conditions

Less that 6 per cent of respondents declared that their working conditions were ‘good’ while 21.6 per cent defined them as ‘very bad’. When the question was extended to include total working activity, the percentage of ‘very bad’ declined to 18.6 per cent and those that considered it ‘good’ or ‘adequate’ increased from 30.9 per cent to 37.6 per cent (Figure 14).

Figure 14: Evaluation of working conditions in KSA (percentages)

60.0

50.0

40.0

30.0

20.0

10.0

0.0

-10.0

20.618.6-2.0

48.643.8-4.8

25.531.45.9

5.46.20.9

Very badSpecificgeneralDiff

Adequate GoodBud but bearable


15. Return to Yemen

- Forced repatriation

In almost all cases (96.6 per cent) the migrants interviewed were forcibly repatriated and in 95.3 per cent of the cases the reason was lack of proper documentation.

Table 39: Reason for repatriation (absolute values and percentages)

Lack of documentationOther reasonsForced repatriationValuntaryTotal

2223109

233282

2414

95.34.7

96.63.4

100.0

- Employment situation after returning to Yemen

After their return to Yemen, migrants were confronted with serious difficulties looking for work. At the time of the interviews (i.e. six to 18 months after repatriation) only 45.6 per cent were em-ployed, the percentage being slightly higher for those in the central age group.

Table 40: Employment situation at time of interview (absolute values and percentages)

Return migrants mainly obtained work in traditional sectors, such as construction (28.5 per cent) and agriculture (27.3 per cent).

Table 41: Sector of employment after repatriation (absolute values and percentages)


If we analyze those who found a job by age and sector, we find that different age groups have been relatively advantaged in different sectors. That is, older workers in domestic work, the central age group in agriculture, freelance work and services, and younger workers in construction and in-dustry (Table 42).

Table 42: Employment by sector of activity and age group (“specialization index”), definition of specialization index, please

Seventy per cent of the workers receive a wage below 10,000 Riels per month and more than half below 2,000; thus, only 30 per cent of the workers were earning more than $US50 per month (Table 5.5).

Table 43: Employment by sector of activity and wage category (Riels; absolute val-ues and percentages)

Table 44: Employment by sector and wage category (“specialization index”)


Two-thirds of those employed stated that it had been extremely difficult or quite difficult to find a job, with the difficulty increasing with age.

Table 45: Difficulty in finding a job by age group (absolute values and percentages)

Despite the shortage of employment opportunities, 6.2 per cent of the employed held two jobs or more. This situation is more common for the young and workers in the central age group, suggesting that motivation or discrimination factors can play a relevant role in finding a job.

Table 46: Number of jobs by age group (absolute values and percentages)

%

- Characteristics of the job

The majority of those employed (52.1 per cent) either have jobs projected to last less than 3 months (27.1 per cent) or work in temporary jobs (35 per cent). Less than 25 per cent have a long-term job. The precariousness of the jobs is inversely related to age. The data also suggest that the most highly paid jobs are short-term jobs of less than 3 months.


Table 47: Duration of the job by age group (absolute values and percentages)

Table 48: Employment duration by wage category (“specialization index”)

The frequency of job pay is polarized. At one end, 55 per cent of workers are paid daily; at the other, 14.7 per cent are paid on a monthly basis. More than 25 per cent are paid per job performed (Table 49).

Table 49: Frequency of payment by wage category (absolute values and percent-ages)


Lower incomes are associated with daily payments; middle and higher incomes are more likely to be paid monthly (Table 50).

Table 50: Payment frequency by wage category (“specialization index”)

More than one third of workers do not work full time. However, 13.8 per cent work more than 10 hours per day – mainly younger workers. Interestingly, no relationship emerged between the number of hours worked and income, while working overtime was largely at the request of the employer.

Table 51: Number of hours worked per day by age group (absolute values and percentages)

- Back to KSA

More than 90 per cent of the migrants interviewed said that, given the opportunity, they would go back to KSA. Even for the oldest group, the percentage is still above 75 per cent. Ninety per cent of those willing to go back asserted that they were going to look for such an opportunity. However, only 54 per cent said they would migrate illegally. Among those that did not want to go back to KSA, the predominant reason was that they had enough of working abroad. The second most important reason was that they were needed at home. Only 6 per cent stated that they wanted to start their own business.

Annex A

Questionnaire

1 2 8 9 10

Hara Street Village Subvillage2-Rural

3 4 5 6 7

Administrative Data

Governorate District subdistrict

Urban Status Urban Rural1-Urban

City Hai

Rapid Assessment Survey of Return Migrants in Yemen

Questionnaire No.

Rapid Assessment Survey of Return Migrants in Yemen Household Questionnaire

Republic of Yemen

Ministry of Planning and Int. Coop.

Central Statistical Organization

11

12

13

Name

Date

Code

For interviewer: If additional questionnaires used, mark (√) in the box

Household Data SummaryNo. of members in

householdTotal number of eligible

return migrant

Time Started _______ Time Ended ________ Duration of Interview (MINUTES) _________

Supervisor Office Editor Coder Data Entry

Interview Results _______________ ______________ __________________

1 Completed2 Partially completed3 No competent respondent at home at time of visit4 Postponed5 Refused6 Entire household absent for extended period of time7 Dwelling vacant8 Address not a dwelling9 Dwelling destroyed10 Dwelling not found96 Other (specify):________

Intervewer Calls First visit Second visit Third visit

Date _______________ ______________ __________________D M Y

For interviewer: If additional questionnaires used, mark (√) in the box 14 15

Warning: The data of this questionnaire are secret under the article (5) of statistical law no. (28) for 1995 and are not used for statistical unpurposes.

1 2

12

11

12

13

Republic of Yemen Ministry of Planning &Int.Coop Central Statistical Organization


Questionnaire No.

Rapid Assessment Survey of Return Migrants in Yemen Household Questionnaire Administrative Data

Governorate

District subdistrict

Urban Status Urban Rural 1-Urban City Hai Hara Street Village Subvillage2- Rural

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Census Data Sector No. Section

No. EA No. Block No. 11 13 14


Date _______________ ______________ __________________

Interview results _______________ ______________ __________________1 Completed2 Partially completed3 No competent respondent at home at time of visit

D M YM Y

Last visit

3 No competent respondent at home at time of visit4 Postponed5 Refused6 Entire household absent for extended period of time7 Dwelling vacant8 Address not a dwelling9 Dwelling destroyed10 Dwelling not found96 Other (specify):________ Time Started _______ Time Ended ________ Duration of Interview (MINUTES) _________ Visit duration

Household Data SummaryNo. of members in household Total number of eligible return migrant


Warning: The data of this questionnaire are secret under the article (5) of statistical law no. (28) for 1995 and are not used forstatistical unpurposes.

Relationship with head of

household:

Sex/ (Gender) Age Marital

Status

1- Married2-Single

3- Divorced4- Widow

1- Household head.

2- Spouse. 3- Son / Doughter.4- Boy's wife/daughter's husband.5- Grandchild.

6- Father/Mother. 1- Male

7- Brother/Sister. 2- Female

8- Other relatives.9- Servant, Driver/Nanny.10- Non-relative.

* 102 103 104 105

For interviewer:If the age of child is less than year, write in the two boxes "0".

How old was

(NAME) at his/her

last birthday?

ser

ial n

o. o

f HH

mem

bers

? (Adressed to the most knowleadgeable member of household)

Section 1. Household Composition and Demographic Characteristics

Concept of household:A household is defined as a person or group of persons who live together in the same house or compound, share the same housekeeping arrangements and are catered for as one unit. Members of a household are not necessarily related (by blood or marriage).

What is the sex of

each of these

individual householdmembers

101

What's (Name) relationship to

head of the household? (Write

the no. of suitable answer

Can you please provide full (triple) names of all persons who are part of

this household, beginning with the head of the household?

* 102 103 104 105

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

101

15

1For interviewer: if HH members are more than (15), mark (√) in √√

5 years & above

1- Doesn't read or write ( literacy) 1- Yes 1- Yes

2- Read and write without qualification. 2- No 2- NoFor interviewer:

3- Pre-primary….

Monthly wage should be estimated for those are working as unpaid with HH or other

4- Primary

5- Primary/secondary/unified…6- Vocational diploma before secondary.

7- Vocational secondary...

8- General secondary…..

9- Dipoma after secondary…10- Bachelor/licentiate11- Diploma after university…

For interviewer: “Main job” refers to

For i

nter

view

er: W

rite

dow

n no

. (1)

If p

erso

n is

forc

ibly

retu

rn m

igra

nt fr

om S

audi

Ara

bia,

an

d (2

) if p

erso

n is

oth

er c

ase

Monthly Wage(RY)

Section 2: Educational attainment & economic activity for all household's members

10 years & above

Main occupation(write in detail)

Seria

l num

ber o

f HH

mem

bers

?

What's the highest qualification that member has got?

Did (NAME) engage in any work at least

one hour during the last week?

Even though (NAME) did not do

any of these activities in the last week, does he/she

have a job, business, or other

economic or farming activity that he/she will

definitely return to?

1- Yes, write no. (1) and skip to 204

1- Yes, write no. (1) and continue11- Diploma after university…

12- Master…13- PhD

Occupation Code

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

206

For interviewer: “Main job” refers to the work on which (NAME) spent most of the time during the week

For i

nter

view

er

2- No, write no. (2) and continue

2- No, write no. (2) and skip to 206

* 201 202 203 205204

1 2

Questionnaire No.___________________________________

1087 9

Village

3 4 5

Name and Line Number of Return Migrant

HaraHai

6

Urban

Individual Questionnaire for Yemeni Return Migrant from KSA

Urban StatusGovernorate District subdistrict

Administrative Data Rural

Street SubvillageCity1-Urban

2-Rural

Republic of Yemen

Ministry of Planning and Int. Coop.

Central Statistical OrganizationRapid Assessment Survey of Return Migrants in

Yemen

11

12

13

Name

Date

Code

__________________

1

______________

2 3Intervewer Calls

Date

__________________Interview Resulth

_______________

1 Completed2 Partially completed3 No competent respondent at home at time of visit4 Postponed5 Refused6 Entire household absent for extended period of time7 Dwelling vacant8 Address not a dwelling9 Dwelling destroyed10 Dwelling not found96 Other (specify):________

Time Started _______ Time Ended ________ Duration of Interview (MINUTES) _________

Supervisor Office Editor Coder Data Entry

_______________ ______________

Household Data SummaryNo. of members in

householdTotal number of eligible

return migrant

D M Y

1514For interviewer: If additional questionnaires used, mark (√) in the box

Warning: The data of this questionnaire are secret under the article (5) of statistical law no. (28) for 1995 and are not used forstatistical unpurposes.

1 2

12

11

12

13

Republic of Yemen Ministry of Planning &Int.Coop Central Statistical Organization


Questionnaire No.

Individual Questionnaire for Yemeni Return Migrant from KSA Administrative Data

Governorate

District subdistrict Urban Status Urban Rural

1-Urban City Hai Hara Street Village Subvillage2- Rural3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Census Data Sector No. Section

No. EA No. Block No. 11 13 14


Date _______________ ______________ __________________

Interview results _______________ ______________ __________________

Last visit

1 Completed2 Partially completed3 No competent respondent at home at time of visit4 Postponed5 Refused6 Entire household absent for extended period of time7 Dwelling vacant

D M YM Y

Stage

Office work

Data

processing

7 Dwelling vacant8 Address not a dwelling9 Dwelling destroyed10 Dwelling not found96 Other (specify):________ Time Started _______ Time Ended ________ Duration of Interview (MINUTES) _________ Visit duration

Household Data SummaryNo. of members in household Total number of eligible return migrant


Name of workers in the survey by job1-In field

Position Name Worker's no Date Signature

Enumerator 201 / /

Team's head 201 / /

2- In office

Signature

201 / /

Data entry 201 / /

Position Name Worker's no. Date of work completion of office work and data processing

Coder Worker's no.

Warning: The data of this questionnaire are secret under the article (5) of statistical law no. (28) for 1995 and are not used for statistical unpurposes.

SKIP1

2

102

1

2

3Through social network (i.e. family, relatives and friends)

104 When did you go to KSA?(before return)

Month (Don’t Know=98)

Year (Don’t Know=98 99)

Through a freelance agent

Through a licensed company

How did you go to KSA?105

INTERVIEWER: Record age of Return Migrant Age in completed years

103 In what month and year did you last return to Yemen from KSA?

Month (Don’t Know=98)

Year

INTERVIEWER: Read the following introduction: This interview is about your experiences of migration. I would like to first ask you some questions regarding your life prior to your migration, then during your migration, and upon your return to Yemen from KSA.

Questions Coding Categories

INTERVIEWER: Record sex of Return Migrant (circle around the sex)101

Male

Female

Section 1. Migration History

4

1

2

1

2

1

2 110

1

2

1

2

1

2

1

2

3

4

Fully employed(not agriculture)

Underemployed (not agriculture)

Working in agriculture/household earnings112

Prior to moving to KSA, what was your employment status in Yemen?

during the past week of the migration)agricultural work with others in paid

111

111Did you have proper documentation (i.e. iqaama and work permit) when working in KSA?

Yes

No

109 If yes, then was the contract honored at your place of employment?

Yes

No

110 If no in Q (108), did you sign another contract?

Yes

No

107Did you migrate through legal channels (i.e. in possession of a proper work visa prior to migration)?

Yes

No

108 Did you have a contract before you migrated?

Yes

No

Did you move there of your own dicision or your household's?106

Of your own decision/volition

Household decision (household head)

unofficial (smuggle)

4

5 201Unemployed (no ever work)

agricultural work with others in paid

SKIPCode

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Work location

Ministries, government institution or company

Mixed institutions or companies

Private institutions or companies

Section 1. Pre-Migration History


113What is your main job during (the past week)of migration, in which (NAME) spent most of the time?

Occupation/ Main Work

Shops / Workshops /Offices

114

Inside dwelling

Footpath kiosk in the market

Hawker 7

8

9

10

11

Code

1

2

3 201

1

2

1

2

Written contract

Oral agreement

Nonapplicable

Farm /meadow

Transport mean (not followed to an institution)

115INTERVIEWER: Write the main activity in which the migrator has practiced before the migration?

Economic activity

Where did (NAME) carry out his/her main work during the past week of his/ her

migration?

116

118 Did you get entitled to social protection?Yes

No

117 Did you pay an income tax in Yemen before you migrated to KSA?

Yes

No

Had (NAME) employed on the basis of:

Another place didn't previously mention

Hawker

Location of building and construction (not affiliated institutions)

SKIPCode

203

Always legal 1

Not always legal 2

Illegal 3

205 No. of jobs (no. of agencies where worked)

1

2 209

2052

Section 2. Work History in KSA


If yes, how many times?

Occupation/ Main Work

202 [NOTE: The question pertains to return from termination of a job/employment and/or deportation and not return

on leave from an existing job]

How many jobs have you held in KSA after your migration(s)?

204

What channels did you use for your re-migration? [NOTE: Migration through social networks BUT in possession of proper documents qualifies as legal. (he/she was in possession of proper documentation]

Did you possess any skills of certified qualifications prior your migration to KSA?

Have you migrated abroad on more than one occasion?

206Yes

After migrating to KSA, what kind of a job were you doing?

No

1

No. of times

201

Yes

No

2 209

1

2

3

Industrial sector 4

5

1

2

3

1

2 212

1

2

3

Industrial sector 4

5

1

2

3

1 214

2

1

211 Were you acquired these through:

Formal vocational training

Apprenticeship

qualifications prior your migration to KSA?

If no, how would you describe your work Regular part-time

207

Domestic work (Driver, cook, gardener, etc)

212 Were you employed on a full-time basis in your primary employment?

Yes

No

Services sector (e.g. retail trade including accounting)

Other (please specify) ________________

Construction

No



Other (please specify) ________________

If yes in Q 206, which sector would you say suited your skills the best?

208 From where you get these acquired skills?

Formal vocational training

Apprenticeship

On the job

Construction

212

209 If no in Q 206, did you acquire any skills while you were in KSA?

On the job

Yes

No

210 If yes in Q 209, which sector would you say suits your skills the best?

1

2213 If no, how would you describe your work

status in KSA?Regular part-time

Daily worker

Skip

2 301

1

2

3

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

More than three

If yes in Q214, with which sector would you associate your primary employment with?

Other ( specify) _________

Domestic work (Driver, cook, gardener, etc)Services sector (e.g. retail trade including accounting)

Free-lance work (odd jobs)

Construction

indestrial sector

214Yes

No

In your last migration, were you involved in more than one employment (at the same time) in KSA?

Two

Three

Section 2. Work History in KSA


215 If yes in Q214 , how many jobs were you performing?

agricultural sector

216

1

2

3

4

5

6

7 Other (please specify) ________________


Which were the second sector would you say suited your skills the best?

Construction

indestrial sector

agricultural sector


Free-lance work (odd jobs)217

SKIP

1

2

3

4

5

1

2

3

4

5 501

303

Section 3. income remuneration and benefits entitlements


301If the answer of Q 212 is one of (1,2,3,4)During your work did you find differences in the income between KSA and Yemen?

Very large

Somewhat large

How much was your average monthly remuneration? SAR

Not very large

Equal

Less than satisfactory

302Did you find the work that you were performing in KSA and earnings from works satisfactory?

Very satisfactory

Adequate

Not satisfactory

Not work yet

Not apply (jobless)

Yes (1) No (2)

1

2

3

Daily bases 4

Per job performed 5

1

2

1

2

3

4

1

1

1

1

2

2

2

2

2

307

306 Were you paid your wages on time?Yes

No

Less than 25%

How much of your monthly earnings were you able to remit to your household per month?

More than 75%

Between 50% and 75%

Did your employer provide you with: INTERVIEWER: Circle (1) if yes,(2) if no.

Between 25% and 50 %.

Please specify____________________

Food

Living quarters

305 Did you receive in your main work your payment on a:

Monthly basis

Fortnightly

Weekly basis

Health insurance

Transport costs

Bonuses1

304

4

1

2

3

4

Between 50% and 75%

More than 75%

308 What proportion of household income was constituted by the remittances?

Less than 25%

Between 25% and 50 %.

More than 75%

SKIP

1

2

3

4

More than double 5

6

7- Other, Specify ___________________

Section 3. income remuneration and benefits entitlements while abroad


1- Everyday basic needs (food and clothing)

2- Housing (construction and maintenance)

3- Health care

4- Children’s education

5- Rites of passage (expenditure on marriages, deaths, etc.)

Where were the remittances essentially utilized by the household? (Rank from the

list below)310

6- Investments (purchase of agricultural land, real estate, etc)

309What would you say about your wages in KSA when compared to earnings in Yemen?

Comparable

Somewhat higher

Much higher

Almost double

Less than double

SKIP

1

2

3

4

1

2

3

1

2

3

4

1

2

3

4

1Very bad

403 What was the total time spent in a day on all work undertaken?

Less than 8 hours a day

8 hours a day

More than 8 hours but less than 12 hours

More than 12 hours a day

404 How would you describe your conditions of work?

Very bad

Bad, but bearable.

Adequate

Good

402If working more than 8 hours, were you

required to do so by your employer?(The two answers (3,4) of past Q)

Yes

No

Of own volition/voluntarily


401 On average, how many hours per day were you working?

Less than 8 hours a day405

8 hours a day

From 9 - 10 hours a day


Section 4. Working conditions in KSA

1

2

3

4

405In general, how would you describe the conditions of work taking account of all other employments?

Very bad

Bad, but bearable.

Adequate

Good

SKIP

1

2 503

1

2

1

2 506

1

2

3

4

5

6

1

Section 5. Return to Yemen


501 Your return from KSA is because ofForced repatriation by authorities

Voluntary

502 If forcibly repatriated, was it becauseYou were without proper documentation

You were with documentation but employment forcibly terminated

Employed in construction

Employed as a domestic worker

503 Since your return, have you found a job in Yemen?

Yes

No

Employed in agriculture (I really don’t know the situation about landless labourers)

Other (please specify) _________________

504 If yes, what kind of work have you been involved in?

Working in the services sector

Doing free-lance work (odd jobs)

Yes – more than two 1

2

3

1

2

3

4

1

2

3

4

5

1

2

3

Monthly basis 4

Per job performed 5

509

1

2

Quite easy

507

505 Do you perform more than one job?

Yes – more than two

Yes – more than one

No

506 Was this/these employment(s) difficult to secure?

Extremely difficult

Not very difficult

Less than 8 hours a day

8 hours a day

Quite difficult

508 Was your payment on a:

Daily bases

Fortnightly

Weekly basis

Both long-term and short-term

Extremely short-term (less than three months)

Temporary

How much do you make on average from this/these employments? YR

510 On average, how many hours per day do 512

Is/Are this/these employments of a long-term, short-term or of a temporary nature?

Long-term (over a year)

Short-term (less than a year)

2

34

8 hours a day

More than 8 hours but less than 10 hours


510 On average, how many hours per day do you work?

SKIP

1

2

3

1

2

3

4

1

2

3

4

5

1

2 517

1

2 517

1 END

2

1

2

3

4

5

515 if yes in Q 514, would you be looking for the opportunity to migrate?

Yes

No

Back in legal way

Very confident

Do you want to go back to KSA if you were given the opportunity to migrate?

Yes

No514

511 If working more than 8 hours, are you required to do so by your employer?

Yes

No

Of own volition/voluntarily

Section 5. Return to Yemen


516If yes in Q 515, would you possibly be willing to migrate even through irregular/illegal channels?

Yes

No

517 If no in Qs. (114,115,116)then why not?

Had enough of working abroad

Needed at home

Want to go into own business

Other _____________

Somewhat confident

Not very confident

Somewhat insecure

Very insecure

513 How secure do you feel about holding a job in Yemen?

514512 How would you describe your conditions of work?

Very bad

Adequate

Good

Bad, but bearable.

606 During your staying in KSA, did you help others:

Facilate their migration to KSA 1Help to get works 2acommedate them up to get a work 3

Low 3No cost 4

605 During your stay in KSA, did you help others to transfer money to?

Yes 1No 2

Relatives or friends 3Other specify:……………. 4

604 How was the cost of transfering remittance?

High 1Middle 2

Once per 3 months 4Once per 6 months 5

603 What method of remittance transfer was used?

Bank 1Private companies for transfering money 2

Other specify:……………. 4

602 How many times you transfer money to your household?

Once per month 1More than once per month 2Once per two months 3

601

difficulties to get work contract 1High cost for getting work contract 2

Why you didn't migrate to KSA in legal channel?Difficulties to get visa 3

Section:6

Skip Questions Coding categories

for those who migrate to KSA

Governora

District

serial no. of(name) in

Yes No1 21 21 21 21 21 21 2

Several times per week 5Everyday 6

609 How often do you socialize with members of your community?

Rarely 1Once per month 2Twice per month 3Once per week 4

608 Since your return from KSA forcibly,did your household face any problems or difficulties in covering these costs:

Basic needs(food and clothing)Housing (construction and maintenance)Health careChildren's educationRites of passage(expenditure on marriage,death,etc.)Investments(purchase of agricultural land,real estate,etc.)Others specify

607 Would you want to migrate to other country, not just KSA?

Yes 1No 2

help others: acommedate them up to get a work 3Didn't help anybody 4

Strongly agree Agree Neutral disagree

610 1 2 3 4

611 1 2 3 4

612 1 2 3 4

613 1 2 3 4

614 1 2 3 4

615 month Year

Since returning,I don't feel I have put any burden on my community of origin 5

How much time you spent in KSA

I'm happy to be back in my community of origin 5

It has been easy for me to integrate back into everyday life in my community of origin 5

Member of my community of origin value me as a member of their community 5

Strongly disagree

Upon my return I have been welcomed by my community of origin 5

Section: 6

Questions Coding categories

Governorate

District

Serial no.of(name) in district

616

Returning to Yemen during

migrationForced repatriation from KSA Visit

Illness of one of

HH members

or

Death of HH

members or

relatives

For mirrage

Iqamaa terminatio

nOthers

Last return

Return priorlast one

Third return

Fourth return

Fifth return

Sixth return

Seventh return

617

What were your reasons for returning:If yes, put(1) / If no,put (2) (you should answer all the following

How often did you return to Yemen from KSA Number of times

10

Thank you your End interview

yemen return migrants survey - 20141 · yemen return migrants survey- 2014 7 the migrants return...

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