A qualitative study of the factors driving the temporary migration of workers from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan to Saudi Arabia

Muhammad Rafiq; Muhammad Saeed; Muhammad Israr

doi:10.47264/idea.jhsms/3.1.12

Authors

Muhammad Rafiq Department of Management and Information System, Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University, Saudi Arabia
Muhammad Saeed Department of Global Studies, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Saudi Arabia. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8439-3830
Muhammad Israr Department of Sociology, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University, Sheringal Dir Upper, Pakistan. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9469-4573

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47264/idea.jhsms/3.1.12

Keywords:

Pakhtun migrants, Dir Lower, migration, drivers of migration, pull-push factors, economic migration, religious migration

Abstract

This study aims to explore the drivers of the temporary migration of workers from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan to Saudi Arabia. Nearly two million Pakistanis work and live in Saudi Arabia; however, no such research has been conducted to study and configure their migration drivers. This research attempts to fill this gap. Data was qualitatively elicited from 90 workers in different cities of Saudi Arabia. The analysis depicts that a complex combination of the push-pull drivers such as poverty (96.66 %), un/employment (95 %), income/wage differentials (85%), family and peer pressure (80%), strong networks of relatives (76.66 %), desire to change the social status (68.33 %), turbulent environment (65 %), and religious affiliations and connectedness (95 %) provoke migration to Saudi Arabia. This study posits that the recent socioeconomic changes in Saudi Arabia, specifically the Saudization policy, quickly alter the economic migration inflow. Nevertheless, Saudi Arabia will remain the top destination for religious migration.

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