The European Union welcomed Qatar’s labor reforms on the employment of foreign workers.
“Once these reforms enter into force, Qatar will become the first country in the Gulf region to dismantle the kefala (“sponsorship”) system governing the employment of migrant workers, which gives employers excessive control over them,” Peter Stano, the bloc’s lead spokesperson on foreign affairs wrote in a statement on Tuesday.
The UN’s International Labour Organization announced Sunday that Qatar had “effectively dismantled” the long-criticized employment scheme which obliged migrant workers to ask for their employer’s permission to change jobs.
Together with these reforms, Qatar also introduced a non-discriminatory minimum wage, granting equal pay for non-citizens, as well as allowances for food and housing in case it is not provided by the employer.
The law on the minimum wage will enter into force six months after the publication in the country’s official gazette.
“The EU strongly supports these labor legislation reform efforts,” the statement added.
However, The European Union’s unemployment rate rose to 7.2% in July, up by 0.5 percentage points year-on-year, the bloc’s statistical office reported on Tuesday.
The figure was also higher than 7.1% in the previous month, Eurostat said in a press release.
The eurozone unemployment rate was 7.9%, up from 7.7% in June 2020 and 7.5% in July 2019.
The eurozone/euro area or EA19 represents member states that use the single currency — euro — while the EU27 includes all member countries of the bloc.
It said 15.18 million men and women in the EU28, including 12.8 million in the euro area, were unemployed as of July.
