Qatar’s Ministry of Labour has said that it has recorded a decline in the number of complaints it has received from expatriate workers, with the majority of disputes resolved amicably.
According to a report by the Peninsula, a Qatari newspaper, the ministry said that the number of complaints received had dropped by more than half.
“Earlier we used to get about 1,000 complaints monthly,” said Saleh Al Shawi. He said that the number of complaints now received had dropped to between 350 and 400 a month.
“Some 90% of disputes involving workers and employers are settled amicably following the intervention of the ministry, and only 10% are referred to the court,” he added.
Earlier this year, construction firms in Qatar complained that they were facing a severe skills shortage of construction workers, mainly due to the lower salaries being offered to labourers.
As a result, only a few workers were willing to renew their contracts, causing a number of projects to lag behind their schedule.