Social protection and labor market responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Arab Gulf countries: An AI-driven analysis through welfare regime and punctuated equilibrium lenses

Published in Social Policy & Society, 2024

This paper analyses social protection and labor market responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in six Arab Gulf countries: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and United Arab Emirates. Through the lens of welfare regime theory and punctuated equilibrium theory, it includes a comprehensive set of social protection and labor market measures using an artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted data extraction process with deep natural language processing (NLP) model and other data collected from a variety of sources. A total of 111 social protection measures were implemented by Gulf nations during the pandemic. Social assistance and labor market policies were the most prevalent responses in the region. Household income support in the forms of exemptions, deferrals, waivers for utility payments, rent support and financial obligations were the most prevalent social assistance instrument, while labor regulatory flexibility were the most widely used labor market policies. The pandemic highlighted systemic gaps in social protection systems and has exposed and magnified some of the critical social protection challenges in the region. Nevertheless, labor supply measures in terms of unemployment benefits and wage subsidies programs have been geared towards only benefiting citizens, while migrant workers have been given limited financial support. Innovative social protection systems and policy reforms, in line with international human rights and international labor standards, including a universal safety net should be pursued.

Recommended citation: Ben Brik, A. & Brown, C. T. (R&R). Social protection and labor market responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Arab Gulf countries: An AI-driven analysis through welfare regime and punctuated equilibrium lenses. Social Policy & Society.