Dubai Struggles to Find Cheap Labor

Ahhh… the market at work.

Thousands of foreign construction workers in the Gulf state of Dubai have gone on strike over pay and conditions.

Workers blocked roads and threw stones at police on Saturday, prompting a government threat to deport rioters.

A fall in value of the UAE dirham means workers are unable to send as much money home as they previously could.

Dubai’s economy has boomed in recent years, fuelled largely by a construction industry reliant on low-paid workers, many from South Asia.

But the emirate has been hit by a labour shortage recently as India’s own economic boom has offered an alternative source of jobs.

Dubai’s foreign workers are demanding higher pay and improved housing as they work on prestige projects such as the Burj Dubai - set to be the world’s tallest building.

Analysts say it is time for the authorities to consider a minimum wage.

Why?  The developers who are paying low wages are already suffering for it.  They can’t get workers and their projects are being delayed.  This labor shortage is already forcing up wages.  Why create an artificial floor for wages when the market is already pushing wages up?  On the flip side, the low wages they have been paying fueled an economic boom where workers came from thousands of miles away because even if the wages were low by our standards, they were dramatically higher than in their home countries.  This allowed them to work and send money home to their families (legally, I might add). 

Dubai’s growth in the past couple of decades is a prime example of what can be accomplished when capitalism is allowed to work.