Jeddah, Oct 15 (Arab News): The Ministry of Labor and Social Development said it is studying the possibility of opening the household labor market to more countries, including those that were previously barred by the government for security reasons.

Ministry spokesman Khaled Aba Al-Khail said the government is also working on signing more agreements to diversify choices for citizens based on their needs. Announcements will soon be made in this regard, he said.

As for countries from which household workers are permitted to be recruited, he said the labor market is open in the Kingdom, and gives citizens the choice of selection recruitment from among various countries. Countries currently open for recruitment are the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, as well as a number of Asian and African countries.

“The ministry constantly explores alternatives that are appropriate for the nature of Saudi society, and the ministry accordingly puts the outline and framework in place with exporting countries in the form of signed agreements,” said the spokesman.

He attributed the causes of the recruitment crises from time to time to the improvement of economies in exporting countries, as well as social issues in those countries, and that fact that some Asian countries like Hong Kong and Malaysia, also recruit workers from those countries.

The chairman of the committee on recruitment offices in Jeddah, Yahya Al-Maqbool, said there are ongoing negotiations between the coordinating committee, which includes officials from the Ministry of Labor and Social Development and a number of owners of recruitment offices, to find solutions to meet the labor market needs for household workers.
He stressed the importance of reducing the number of visas to bring it in line with supply and demand, as there are many more visas than there are household workers. He also said that most offices work mostly on recruiting household workers from the Philippines and Bangladesh, and proposed a review and reopening of the doors to importing labor from larger countries, like Indonesia, Thailand and Ethiopia.

He said there are recruitment offices that do not comply with the fees prescribed by the ministry for recruitment of household workers, which were set at SR7,000. Prices in the market can reach as high as SR14,000, he said, attributing this to higher costs in labor-exporting countries.

He said the set prices are no longer realistic as they were fixed years ago. This is specially the case as there is a larger demand for workers and citizens are willing to pay higher amounts. He said this practice is a violation, with penalties for violating offices including closure, noting that prices should not exceed the set amounts as any increase will force other offices to match these higher prices as well.