Indians Avoiding Dubai as Dollar Plunge

Dubai's incessant economic growth is a much talked about subject. However, its impressive growth has out-stripped its ability to provide sufficient core infrastructure for its countless workers traveling from places like Sharjah. The plunge of the dollar and the dirham is a cause of concern for local residents as well as for expatriate workers from foreign countries. It is seen that many Indian construction workers are unwilling to work in Dubai because their earnings would be eroded by the high cost of living.
The backbone of the construction industry in Dubai is the South Asian workforce, mainly from India. Indian construction workers would expect to earn four times as much as they would in India if they moved to Dubai five years ago, MEED cited Samir Khosla, Vice-Chairman of Dynamic Staffing Services, as saying. “As the US currency hits all time low compared to Euro and other currencies, the pay differential has been reduced to 40%,” said Mr. Khosla.
The situation has become such that most of the expats working in Dubai are unable to send home the amount of money they used to do earlier. The competitive advantage of working in the emirate has eroded now.
"Most of the workers coming to here work in construction don't have any savings and just live from pay cheque to pay cheque. Even a small fall in the value of the dirham against the rupee is a problem for them," Mr. Khosla said.