Saudi Arabia’s migrant crackdown – one year on

It’s been a year since the Saudi Arabian authorities launched a crackdown on illegal migrants working in the Kingdom. In this Watch, we assess what impact that the crackdown, as well as the government’s other labour market policies, have had on the Saudi economy. In short, there doesn’t appear to have been a material impact at a macro level but certain sectors, in particular construction, have been hit. Moreover, there are signs that wage pressures are building and this is likely to push inflation higher over the coming years.