There were about 1.93 million house helps in the Kingdom at the end of 2015 of whom about 62 percent were women, business daily Al-Eqtisadiah said on Tuesday quoting a government report. The report said there are 1,208,973 female and 726,231 male domestic workers. The Ministry of Labor said that recruitment charges for hiring housemaids from Bangladesh and Niger should not exceed SR7,000. It said the monthly salary of a housemaid from Bangladesh should not exceed SR800 while that of the housemaids from Niger will be about SR750. The ministry said that recruitment should be processed within 60 days after which recruitment companies will be fined SR100 for each day of delay with a maximum fine of SR3,000. Recruitment companies can collect only 25% of recruitment cost at the time of contract signing. The remaining amount will be paid only after the housemaid gets work visa.
