Global Migration Flows Reverse for the First Time Since the Depression as Work in the Rich World Dries Up

Now, some of the world's biggest magnets for foreign labor can no longer accommodate the influx. The population of the United Arab Emirates and especially Dubai have swelled in recent years from the hundreds of thousands of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Filipino, and Sri Lankan workers who came to build gleaming new skyscrapers and staff malls, as well as western professionals who moved there to work as lawyers and bankers.

But as growth in the U.A.E. slows and more migrants return home, economists expect the Emirates' overall population will stay flat or decline this year after growing more than 6% per year in 2007 and 2008.