Qatar's Labor Market

Qatar is working to reforming its guest worker laws to allow them to change sponsors within the country. One of the biggest problems to Gulf guest worker laws, laws similar to what President Bush has proposed for the United States, is that workers' status within the country is dependent on the sponsorship of their employers. This means it's all but impossible to enforce any worker protection provisions, because the employers can just end their sponsorship of anyone who might become a "problem" and kick them out of the country. Making the labor marker freer within countries would go a long way toward helping improve conditions for guest workers in the Gulf.