Why Pakistani Workers Earn Less Than Indians in the Gulf for the Same Work
A passport-priced wage gap of 15 to 35 percent that costs Pakistan tens of billions of dollars over a generation
By Asad Baig • Written from outside Pakistan • May 2026 • Approx. 9-min read
When I said salaries, I mean what Pakistani workers get outside , most of the times it's less than Indian without any justification, or maybe just mindset about publicity Indian government did for their people. This is not my emotion, this is also experience.
I have written the bigger argument in Pakistan Brain Drain: The Graveyard of Remittancers. This piece is for one specific question. Why does a Pakistani construction supervisor in Saudi Arabia earn less than an Indian construction supervisor doing the same job, in the same company, on the same site?
The answer is not skill.
Why do Pakistani workers earn less than Indians in the Gulf?
Pakistani workers earn 15 to 35 percent less than Indian workers for the same job in the Gulf because the wage system in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and other Gulf states is "passport-priced." India has bilateral labour agreements with wage floors, dedicated Indian Workers Resource Centres in Gulf cities, and strong national branding. Pakistan has none of these at scale. The Pakistani worker pays a tax for being Pakistani every month, for an entire career.
The "passport pricing" system, documented
Industry analysis confirms that Gulf labour markets explicitly price workers based on the colour of their passport, not the work they do.
A widely quoted Life in Saudi Arabia industry analysis from 2022 stated it directly: "The system of wages in Saudi Arabia is largely based on the colour of the passport. This is applicable to all companies that hire foreign workers... a nurse with 2 years of experience and one with 30 years of experience earn the same salary if the former has a Western passport. The only thing which matters is the colour of your passport."
The hierarchy is documented. Industry recruitment reports show the following salary tier structure for the same job, same qualifications, same company:
- Western passport holders (US, UK, Canada, Australia, Western Europe) , top tier
- Other Western or East Asian passports (Singapore, Japan, South Korea)
- Arab nationals (Egyptians, Lebanese, Jordanians) , middle tier
- Filipinos , generally above South Asians for similar roles
- Indians , significantly above Pakistanis and Bangladeshis
- Pakistanis , below Indians for comparable work
- Bangladeshis, Nepalis, Sri Lankans , typically lowest tier
A Pakistani above a Bangladeshi. An Indian above a Pakistani. A Filipino above an Indian. A passport hierarchy with money attached to it.
The actual wage differentials, by role
Industry data from Gulf Business salary surveys, recruitment firm reports (Nadia, Charterhouse), and Pakistani worker testimony documented by Gulf migration research projects:
| Role (monthly USD, same job) | Western | Indian | Pakistani |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registered Nurse | $3,500-5,000 | $1,200-1,800 | $800-1,400 |
| Civil Engineer (mid-level) | $5,000-8,000 | $2,500-4,000 | $1,800-3,000 |
| IT Professional | $4,500-7,000 | $2,200-3,800 | $1,500-2,800 |
| Construction Foreman | $2,500-3,500 | $1,200-1,800 | $900-1,400 |
| General Laborer | $1,200-1,800 | $500-700 | $350-550 |
The gap between Indian and Pakistani workers for the same role typically runs 15 to 35 percent in favour of Indians, with the gap widest in professional categories.
What that gap costs over a 25-year career
Same job. Same hours. Same skills. 25-year career.
| Worker | Monthly Avg | 12 mo × 25 yr |
|---|---|---|
| Indian construction supervisor in Saudi Arabia | $1,800 | $540,000 |
| Pakistani construction supervisor (same role) | $1,400 | $420,000 |
| DIFFERENCE PER WORKER | $400 | $120,000 |
$120,000 per worker. Across roughly 5 to 6 million Pakistani workers in the Gulf, the cumulative wage loss from state failure to negotiate equivalent agreements runs into tens of billions of dollars over a generation.
Every month, every Pakistani worker abroad pays a tax for being Pakistani. A tax extracted by the gap between what they earn and what they should earn at market rates. Multiplied across millions of workers and decades of working life, this is one of the largest invisible economic losses Pakistan suffers.
The three reasons the gap exists
The gap is not random. It is the product of three structural differentials that the Pakistani state has chosen not to close.
Reason 1: India fights for its workers. Pakistan does not.
India has Bilateral Labour Agreements (BLAs) with all major Gulf states with minimum wage floors. India operates Indian Workers Resource Centres in Riyadh, Sharjah, and Doha , physical buildings with Indian government staff, lawyers, and translators on the ground. India deploys labour attachés at major embassies whose entire job is to defend worker rights.
Pakistan has signed weaker bilateral agreements without effective wage protection. Pakistan has no equivalent labour attaché network at scale. I have written the longer explainer at What Are Bilateral Labour Agreements and Why Pakistan Lacks Strong Ones.
Reason 2: India sells its brand. Pakistan sells its silence.
India has built its brand as a source of competent professionals. Bangalore, Infosys, Wipro, the IIT system. Indian-origin CEOs running Microsoft, Google, Adobe, IBM. The brand association in a Gulf hiring manager's head is "Indian = competent professional from a respected source country."
Pakistan has done minimal positive image-building globally. The brand association is more often "cheaper labour, riskier political baggage." Employers price the perception, not just the worker.
Reason 3: India has leverage. Pakistan has loans.
If Saudi Arabia mistreats an Indian worker, India's diplomatic consequences carry weight. India is a $4 trillion economy, a Quad member, a strategic partner of the United States.
If Saudi Arabia mistreats a Pakistani worker, Pakistan needs Saudi loans more than vice versa. The asymmetry translates directly into worker treatment.
The Pakistan embassy failure
A peer-reviewed PMC study published in 2023 documented this directly: "Interviewees commented on the Pakistan embassy in Qatar's 'unwillingness to help' to protect the rights of Pakistani migrants in the country, compared with embassies of other sending countries including Bangladesh and Nepal."
Pakistan's embassy in Qatar was rated as MORE unwilling to help than Bangladesh's and Nepal's. Bangladesh and Nepal. Smaller economies. Fewer resources. More willing to fight for their workers than Pakistan is. Read that twice.
The budget reflects the priority:
| Metric | India | Pakistan | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foreign affairs budget (USD) | ~$2.6 billion | ~$135 million | India: 19x more |
| Diplomatic missions | 200+ | ~100 | India: 2x more |
| Diaspora population | ~32 million | ~9 million | India: 3.5x more |
| Spending per overseas citizen | ~$81 | ~$15 | India: 5.4x more |
I have written the longer explainer at Why Pakistan's Embassies Fail Their Own Workers and the comparison at How Does India's Diaspora Support Compare to Pakistan's.
What India does that Pakistan does not
India has built an elaborate, dedicated infrastructure for engaging its diaspora. The headline programs:
- Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) , biennial diaspora summit since 2003
- Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra , entire dedicated facility in New Delhi
- Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) , lifetime multiple-entry visa with property rights
- Scholarship Programme for Diaspora Children , up to $4,000/year
- Madad Portal , online grievance system, every complaint tracked
- Pravasi Bharatiya Sahayata Kendra , emergency assistance centres
- Indian Community Welfare Fund , direct support for distressed nationals
- Overseas Workers Resource Centres , local centres in destination countries
- Vande Bharat Mission , repatriated 7 million Indians during COVID
- Operation Ganga , 22,500+ evacuated from Ukraine, 2022
- Operation Kaveri , 4,000+ evacuated from Sudan, 2023
- Operation Ajay , rapid evacuation during Israel-Hamas, 2023
Pakistan's first major Overseas Pakistanis Convention was held in April 2025. 78 years after independence. 22 years after India started PBD. The same convention where Army Chief Asim Munir called the brain drain "brain gain."
India deploys a state. Pakistan deploys press releases.
What this costs Pakistan, in one sentence
The Pakistani state has chosen not to fight for its workers, and the bill is paid every month, by every Pakistani worker abroad, in the form of a wage that is 15 to 35 percent below what an Indian doing the same job earns. Over a working lifetime, that is $120,000 per worker. Across millions of workers, it is tens of billions of dollars Pakistan has left on the table.
That is not skill. That is not market forces. That is policy. The policy of a state that has decided diplomacy with its workers is not worth the cost.
What the solution looks like
The wage gap is not unfixable. India did not build its diaspora architecture overnight , it took 20 years and a sustained political mission. Pakistan can do the same:
- Sign new Bilateral Labour Agreements with all Gulf states with minimum wage floors enforced
- Deploy labour attachés at every major Gulf embassy with worker-rights mandates
- Build Pakistani Workers Resource Centres (modelled on India's IWRCs) in Riyadh, Sharjah, Doha, Dubai, Abu Dhabi
- Launch a Madad-equivalent grievance portal with public KPIs
- Run a positive Pakistan-brand campaign tied to specific industries (IT, healthcare, engineering)
- Reform the Pakistan embassy worker-services pipeline with hard performance metrics
The full diaspora-rights and Brain Gain plan is at The Real Brain Gain Plan.
In closing
Industry analysts have noted directly: "Sometimes the percentage of professional graduates successfully moving to better pastures overseas, causing the so-called brain drain, is as high as 80 or 90, which accounts for the charge that countries like Pakistan basically end up training professionals for Western countries for a fraction of the cost and, therefore, deserve to be compensated or reimbursed for their expenses on professional education."
Pakistan trains the workers. Saudi Arabia and the UAE buy them at a discount. The Pakistani state writes a press release praising the remittance number. This is not a development strategy. It is a managed bleed.
The Pakistani worker is not earning less in the Gulf because he is less skilled. He is earning less because the Pakistani state has not fought for him. And until the state decides to fight, the bleed continues.
The dollars belong to us. The country belongs to us. We will not shut up.
, Asad Baig, written from outside Pakistan, May 2026
Frequently asked questions
Why do Pakistani workers earn less than Indians in the Gulf? Because Gulf wage systems are passport-priced. India has bilateral labour agreements with wage floors, Indian Workers Resource Centres in major Gulf cities, and strong national branding. Pakistan has weaker bilateral agreements, no labour attaché network at scale, and minimal positive country-branding. The wage gap is policy, not skill.
How big is the wage gap between Pakistani and Indian Gulf workers? Indian workers earn 15 to 35 percent more than Pakistani workers for the same role, with the gap widest in professional categories. A Pakistani construction supervisor in Saudi Arabia earns ~$1,400/month while an Indian one earns ~$1,800/month , a gap of $120,000 over a 25-year career.
What is "passport pricing" in Saudi Arabia? Passport pricing is the documented practice in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states of paying workers based on their nationality rather than their skills or experience. A 2022 Life in Saudi Arabia analysis confirmed that "the only thing which matters is the colour of your passport."
What is a Bilateral Labour Agreement? A Bilateral Labour Agreement (BLA) is a government-to-government treaty between a sending country (like Pakistan) and a receiving country (like Saudi Arabia) that sets out worker protections, wage floors, recruitment standards, and grievance mechanisms. India has strong BLAs with all major Gulf states. Pakistan's are weaker.
Why does Pakistan's embassy not help its workers more? A peer-reviewed PubMed Central study found Pakistan's Qatar embassy was rated more unwilling to help than the embassies of Bangladesh and Nepal. The structural reasons are budget (Pakistan spends ~$15 per overseas citizen vs India's ~$81), no labour-attaché network, no equivalent of India's Madad portal, and no political mission to make worker support a priority.
How much money does Pakistan lose because of this wage gap? Across roughly 5 to 6 million Pakistani workers in the Gulf, the cumulative wage loss from state failure to negotiate equivalent agreements runs into tens of billions of dollars over a generation , money that should have flowed back to Pakistan as remittances but never did.
Sources and notes
- Gulf Business 2017 Salary Survey via Gulf Labour Markets and Migration (GLMM)
- Recruitment firm reports , Nadia, Charterhouse
- Wikipedia "Foreign workers in Saudi Arabia" citing Saudi government documentation
- Life in Saudi Arabia industry analysis, 2022
- Pakistani worker testimony documented by Gulf migration research projects
- "Protecting and promoting the rights of the 'reserve army of labour'," PMC, 2023
- StateUniversity.com Pakistan Higher Education entry, citing academic analysis
- India Budget 2026-27 Notes on Demands for Grants No. 29
- CSEP analysis , "A Better but Still Insufficient MEA Budget"
- Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs documentation
- Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Gulf Migration Research Program, March 2025
Related reading
Pillar: Pakistan Brain Drain: The Graveyard of Remittancers
Sibling cluster posts:
- The Human Cost of Pakistan's Brain Drain
- Why Pakistan's Remittance Economy Is a Development Trap
- The Real Brain Gain Plan: How Pakistan Can Bring Its Diaspora Home
Long-tail spokes under this cluster:
- Why Pakistani Salaries Are Lower Than Indian Salaries in the Gulf
- Why Pakistan's Embassies Fail Their Own Workers
- How Does India's Diaspora Support Compare to Pakistan's
- What Are Bilateral Labour Agreements and Why Pakistan Lacks Strong Ones
Thank you for reading.
, Asad Baig
Asad Baig