This volume situates the phenomenon of migration from Kerala to the Gulf in its economic and social contexts. Based on migration surveys carried out by the authors, the volume is a comparative study of the surveys carried out in 1998, 2003 and 2008. It looks at the changes migration has brought about in the lives of the families left behind by the migrant. It also carries a two-part epilogue. While the first analyses the panel data from the 1998 and 2008 surveys, the second evaluates the results from the most recent survey conducted in 2011 that throws light on migration during the global financial crises of 2008 and its aftermath on employment in the Middle East.