Cairo: Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Human Resources has reopened recruitment of domestic labour from Ethiopia and set the maximum cost limit at SR6,900 per worker exclusive the VAT, the Saudi news agency SPA has reported.
The resumtion of recruitment from Ethiopia comes more than three years after the kingdom halted it.
The decision is the latest in a series of measures pertaining to house labour recruitment with the aim of regulating the employment market in the kingdom.
The ministry has obligated all agencies engaged in brokering domestic labour recruitment to adhere by the designated official cost cap.
The move marks continuation of the ministry’s efforts to regulate the recruitment market to ensure the quality of the provided services and improve the work environment, SPA added.
The ministry had earlier announced maximum limits for hiring overseas domestic workers from different countries.
They are set at SR9,500 per worker from Uganda, SR10,000 from Thailand, SR10,870 from Kenya, SR13,000 from Bangladesh, SR15,000 from Sri Lanka, SR17,288 from the Philippines and SR7,500 from Burundi exclusive VAT.
The ministry is keen to revise costs and the provided services in view of economic changes, SPA noted.
As part of its endeavours to regulate the labour market, the ministry has set up the Musaned domestic labour programme 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 Musaned also helps regulate and automate the recruitment process starting from giving the customer access to all recruitment offices in the kingdom and picking the most suitable, depending on a host of factors including prices, and previous clients’ feedbacks without the need to visit each of them.
The ministry has said it is necessary to conduct contracting via the Musaned, being the official recruitment platform.
The ministry has recently issued instructions regulating the transfer of domestic workers’ sponsorship, rules of recruitment and presentation of labour services with the aim of improving contractual relationship and boosting market attractiveness in the kingdom.
