Job Discussion Forums

[qatarwatch]

This topic grew out of another thread which began as a simple request for info on QP, but later developed into a plea for the "poor, suffering Egyptians, Jordanians, and Palestinians" who are doing what appears to be similar work to that of their Western ELT coworkers, but are not getting the same compensation. I support the idea that people doing similar work, at a similar standard, should be similarly paid. However, this is an ideal which is difficult to achieve even within a mature liberal democracy, let alone in a wild-East boomtown (Doha, Dubai) with a huge expat workforce composed of individuals from all over the world. I�d like to propose a number of partial explanations for this disparity in compensation, and suggest that it�s a natural and necessary dimension of global socioeconomic development (evolution). Please comment on any or all points.

1. Cost of living in home country: Expat ELT professionals in the Gulf come from various regions of the world (i.e. Canada, UK, India, Egypt), and, in expat labour economies like those in the Gulf, it is expected that these workers will return to their countries of origin when the work is done. An Egyptian, for example, will pay far less to purchase an average family dwelling upon returning home than his/her Canadian or American counterparts. Other costs of living are also generally lower in less developed countries. Take another example: an Indian national I work with, and who is on the same pay grade as me, recently bought a comfortable new bungalow in a suburb outside Mumbai last year on money he had saved over 3 years while working in the Gulf. In comparison, I would have to work and save for 10 years to be able to do the same in Canada. (* I use the term �develop� here because economies and cultures do �evolve��.from simple and rigid structures, to more flexible and sophisticated ones). The disparity in wages pointed out by other posters here seems much less unjust in this light.

2. Western empiricism and secularism: As ELT professionals, we are �selling� more than just assistance in acquiring language skills. We are selling an entire thought paradigm and world view (as constrained as it often is here in the Gulf). In fact, leaders here in the Gulf, at least the more enlightening ones, realize that it is this secular, empirical, critical paradigm that their own people desperately need to acquire in order to become productive members of the global economy, to grapple with the challenges that the �end of oil� will bring, and simply to become responsible members of their own evolving societies. ELT professionals who have been brought up in Western democracies are naturally better prepared to model and transmit these qualities and values of a more advanced cultural order. Of course, ELT professionals raised and educated in non-Western societies also have a role to play in ELT, particularly within their respective homelands. In those countries they properly constitute the leading edge of access to collaboration with English speakers worldwide. However, as expat workers here in the Gulf they are much less likely than Westerners to reproduce the desired attitudes, qualities, and propensities in their students because, in many cases, they represent precisely those traditional paradigms which have impeded the progress of these societies for generations. This is another reason why Western ELT professionals enjoy a salary premium compared to some others.

3. The demographics of overpopulation also contribute to this apparent disparity in salaries. Canada, the US, the UK and Australia, as exporters of ELT professionals, are not responsible for the fact that India, Egypt and other labour exporting countries have failed to control their national population growth, which is partly to blame for unemployment and poverty in those countries. The fact that 300 million Indians live on less than $1 per day, or that 90% of Indians are underemployed in low-quality jobs in the unorganized sector, or that more than half of Indians do not have access to formal banking services is evidence of the country�s poor national planning record and lack of political will and cooperation. Various countries in the Middle East and North Africa suffer similar economic woes, due to similar factors connected to the demographics of overpopulation, political corruption, as well as religious factionalism. It serves us well to remember that overpopulation is not an absolute value, but rather it is relative and directly related to a group�s ability to produce and reproduce their culture peacefully within a finite area. If large segments of a nation�s population are unable to produce and reproduce themselves physically and culturally due to the scarcity of resources, then we can say that this group (state/country) is overpopulated. It�s the responsibility of a nation�s leaders to guide and inspire their people toward a sustainable and peaceful society. There are many nations which have failed to achieve this, and, consequently, citizens of these places lose their bargaining power in global labour markets precisely because they are part of this large un/underemployed labour pool.

Non-Western ELT professionals who come from overpopulated, and/or politically and economically unstable nations feel the consequences of this in at least two ways: one, highly competitive job markets due to so many unemployed individuals from the same region tends to put downward pressure on salaries and benefits, a situation employers are often happy to exploit and; two, employers in the Gulf likely use the presence of lower-salaried employees as a tool to signal the rest of us that we could be replaced one day and consequently that we better limit our demands for increased salary and benefits. An example of this tactic can be seen in the Korean government�s recent attempt to begin issuing E-2 visas to Philippine and Indian nationals to teach EFL, with salary caps of W1 500 000 ($1500) per month. However, the government had to back down after thousands of parents mounted a campaign against this policy for reasons which include a preference for North American accents, as well as a preference for social, economic, and political ties with the West rather than India and the Philippines, from which they likely see little to emulate that would enhance their own prospects (ie. Koreans see Western universities and businesses as the models to emulate - not those in the Philippines or India).

4. Excellence in Education and Innovation: Let�s face it, for the past 200 years the West has set the bar for excellence in education and training and its associated industry, empirical research. Of course, Japan was an early convert to this paradigm as well, and its institutions of learning are also revered as world-class. More recent joiners include South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and, most recently, China. A survey of most any World Ranking of universities, for example, will not turn up any representatives from the Middle East (outside Israel), the Indian subcontinent (despite the fact that IISc Bangalore [itself modelled on MIT]does produce quality researchers), or Africa (outside the RSA). There are a range of factors responsible for this, some of which are discussed above. The bottom line is that our approach to education, training and research has led directly to most of the technological innovations which we currently enjoy in this world. It�s plain to anyone who has ever visited or lived in the Gulf that every important item of technology that mediates between humans and the harsh desert environment here comes either from the West, or from the Far East. I challenge anyone to take an inventory. The modern Gulf States have all been built on Western (and Far-Eastern) knowledge-based industries and we Western ELT professionals are an organic part of this tradition. Most of the non-Western faculty working in the ELT business in the Gulf are aware of this, and this is why many of them have sought degrees from Western universities. Finally, I might also point out the fact that it�s been Western universities from Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US which have been encouraged to set up campuses in places like Dubai and Doha, and not universities from Egypt, India, or Jordan, which would certainly have been less expensive. I wonder why this is the case. I think it�s necessary to speak plainly here - a degree from the West is worth more than a degree from any other region of the world.

[Stephen Jones]

Disparity in wages has everything to do with supply and demand. Now it's possible that demand for white faces is based on nothing else but their being a white face but by introducing irrelevancies like justice into the equation you are not making things any clearer.

The reasons Indians will work for less wages than you in the same job is because they have less alternatives. Why the employer should pay more for you is a different matter.

[wilberforce]

This is one of the best postings I've read.