South Asian migrants working in the multi-billion dollar construction industry in Arab Gulf countries are shouldering the costs of their own recruitment fees while companies and their clients are reaping the benefits from inexpensive labor, according to a study released Tuesday. The research by New York University's Stern Center for Business and Human Rights found that workers spend an average of 10 to 18 months' worth of salary paying off the fees that help facilitate their migration...In order to reduce the cost of labor on mega projects, a weakly controlled system for recruitment is passing on the costs to the workers themselves, says the study...Rather than providing an opportunity for decent pay and better livelihood, construction industry practices across the Gulf are pushing workers into extreme debt and exacerbating abuses workers are likely to face, such as an inability to change jobs or move to another country due to indebtedness. "Companies should strive to be in compliance with local law in areas where they are operating," said David Segall, one of the authors of the report. "As we've seen in other industries, the dam holding back reputational damage tends to break suddenly and without warning and irreversibly so I think it would be to construction companies' benefit to come ahead of the curve on this one."