Despite efforts to improve the plight of Qatar’s migrant labor population, the treatment of many workers continues to be dismal, according to a new report.

In a survey of 854 expat males living in labor camps last summer, 91 percent said they had surrendered their passports to their employers, said Darwish al-Emadi, director of Qatar University’s Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI).

According to the Gulf Times, the survey also found that:

• The average workday lasted 10 hours, with 4 percent reporting working five-week days. Some 10 percent worked seven days a week and 86 percent worked six-day weeks. 

• The overwhelming majority of men surveyed supported families back home; some 70 percent said they were married, and of those, 85 percent had children under the age of 18. 

• About one-fifth said they would like to know more about the rights of foreign workers in Qatar.

The survey makes no mention of salaries, but according to the latest human rights reports, the average laborer here makes QR800-QR1100 a month ($219-$300), and almost 70 percent are unhappy about being grossly underpaid.