Abstract
This study explores the access to social protection for Nepalese migrant workers in countries of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC). It is the first of its kind to analyse data collected from migrant workers in all the GCC countries on their de facto access to social protection for health coverage, sickness, maternity, unemployment, employment injury as well as access to End-of-service indemnity (EOSI). The study focuses on Nepalese returnees from the GCC as Nepal is one of the largest suppliers of labour globally and also has a number of provisions in place to cover migrant workers abroad, allowing for an analysis of social protection provisions in both countries of origin and destination.A phone survey was conducted between January and March 2023 with 1,001 Nepalese returnees (900 male and 101 female) who had previously worked in the GCC. This was followed by qualitative research, namely 19 semi-structured interviews in person with return migrants. Survey respondents primarily worked in Saudi Arabia (30 per cent), Qatar (29 per cent) and the UAE (27 percent). The most common employment sector was in construction (22 per cent), followed by hotels and restaurants (18 per cent), and trade and repair service (12 per cent).