Philippines top source of domestic labour for Saudi Arabia

Cairo: The Philippines has topped the list of domestic labour recruitment in Saudi Arabia.

Bangladesh and Pakistan follow in terms of the domestic workers hired via a Saudi government platform designated for house labour.

Some 900 recruitment offices have been accredited across the kingdom to provide the recruitment service.

Around 725,000 Filipinos are living in Saudi Arabia, according to recent Saudi statistics.

Last November, Saudi Arabia announced resuming recruitment of Filipino domestic workers after a months-long halt. This recruitment was suspended in Saudi Arabia in late 2021.

The Philippine embassy was quoted at the time as saying the suspension was due to new regulations issued by the Philippine Ministry of Labour governing the contractual relationship between Filipino house workers and their foreign employers.

Saudi labour authorities have recently sought to regulate the domestic labour market.

To this end, the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources launched the Musaned domestic labour platform to help customers learn about their rights and duties, and related services including visa issuance, recruitment requests and contractual relation between the employer and the worker.

The platform allows the wage transfer to the labour via the apps STC pay and Urpay as part of digital services. The transfer of a house worker’s service from one employer to the other as well as authentication of domestic labour contracts and resolution of disputes are also available on the platform.

The ministry has said it is necessary to conduct contracting via the Musaned, being the official recruitment platform. he ministry has added that it has automated all recruitment measures as part of efforts to upgrade the labour sector in the kingdom and preserve rights of employers and employees.