Govt sees early end to maid shortage

Ways to overcome the current shortage of housemaids in the Kingdom are being worked out, according to Labor Ministry officials, with intense negotiations are under way with some of the Asian countries involved in the crisis.
“There will be a meeting between Saudi and Indonesian officials on Jan. 10 to discuss salaries of Indonesian maids. The Labor Ministry recently licensed 20 new recruitment companies in order to provide more options to citizens,” Saad Al-Baddah, chairman of the National Recruitment Committee at the Council of Saudi Chambers, told Arab News.
The ministry is expected to sign final contracts with the Indonesian government soon, which would end the three-year-long domestic workers’ shortage in the Kingdom. The situation worsened when the government banned all recruitment from Ethiopia due to crimes committed by some of the country’s workers in the Kingdom.
“Saudi Arabia and India have signed a new labor pact for the recruitment of domestics. The labor pact also prohibits salary deductions from a domestic worker for any recruitment cost, and penalties will be imposed on violators,” Al-Baddah explained. The agreement with the Indian government also offers a foolproof protection system, including insurance for domestic workers.
Yahiya Al-Maqbul, head of the Recruitment Committee at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, confirmed that the Labor Ministry’s agreements with new countries are a radical solution to the current crisis, which will reduce labor costs and recruitment prices.
Al-Maqbul also referred to the ministry’s plans to sign agreements with four new countries as part of their efforts to solve the recruitment crisis facing the country.