Expat Hubs Turn on Those They Once Courted - Bloomberg
Take a pandemic, combine it with a global recession and add a sprinkle of pent-up nationalism. For skilled foreign workers around the globe it’s an increasingly bitter cocktail.
From financial-powerhouse Singapore to the U.S.’s tech hubs to oil-rich Kuwait, life has gotten much tougher for workers living abroad who until recently were courted for their expertise. Tighter visa criteria, fewer jobs and concerted government pressure on companies to hire locally is forcing many to return home.
“There’s been a bit of backlash from the local population toward expats,” said William Harvey, a professor at the University of Exeter who studies talent management and migration. “It’s easier to lay off people who are not from the country.”
Mohamed Faizer is one of many who knows that first hand. In March, the Hong Kong citizen was head of security at Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways and thriving. Then Covid hit and Faizer lost his job in the wave of cost-cutting that followed. This year the airline was forced to slash its workforce, laying off both expats and Kuwaiti nationals.
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