Not really a world affair, more of a thought.
And that unique advantage is that, other than the small percentage of highly qualified people, they have complete control over their labor force. I can’t think of any other country or region which has this kind of power or advantage. Perhaps, North Korea, but that is not really a country which competes globally. Now, that is now to say this is a good thing. It is good for them, but bad for the people involved.
Think of how things are in Pakistan. Regardless of the conditions, the labor over there has one very important right; they can simply quit any time they want and find another job. Practical or not, but that is a right. Then there is the right to unionize, protest and walk off the job if things are not right.
The Gulf countries bring in foreign labor, and through contracts, economic conditions, and sometimes coercion, they are at a huge advantage. Unless you are a physician, or engineer or in management, there is really no negotiation. If you don’t like the job conditions, tough. Too hot? How about that plane ticket back to homeland. Unions? Can you translate that in Arabic please? Hurt on the job? Uff! And then on top of that, labor gets paid the rates which are comparable to their home country. It’s not as if everyone is getting paid a minimum wage. Even if there was a minimum wage, it differs from nationality to nationality.
So really all these countries have to worry about is how little they can pay, how bad the housing conditions can be that are tolerable, and how quickly they can get them to do the job. No worries about people quitting, or protesting. And when they do protest, this is what happens
If you live in US or Canada, you have likely heard of the oil boom going on in areas like Texas, North Dakota, or Alberta. Wages are through the roof. Truck drivers, constructions workers and oil right roughnecks (the people who do the real hard work on the rigs) are getting paid six figures 1] and [http://www.overdriveonline.com/how-trucking-is-becoming-the-most-attractive-job-in-the-country/]. Other then paying these wages, oil companies have to worry about people quitting, lawsuits from people getting hurt, and simply running out of qualified workers.
In comparison, in Gulf countries labor similar to construction, truck drivers and oil rig workers is extremely low cost. Oil costs the same, but it’s the price to get it out of the ground which puts them at a huge advantage.