JEDDAH — Despite repeated warnings by the Ministry of Labor and Social Development, the black market for housemaids has again flourished with the imminent arrival of the holy month of Ramadan. Quoting the director of a recruitment office in Jeddah, Makkah daily said on Sunday the cost of transferring a housemaid from her sponsor to a new employer has reached as high as SR50,000 while her salary for the month will be about SR6,000. Abdullah Al-Nashmi noted that the social media is replete with addresses of brokers who can provide families with housemaids for the fasting month. The demand for housemaids grows during Ramadan because of the numerous household chores, the guests and the social events. Nashmi said there is an increasing number of messages on the WhatsApp offering housemaids to Saudi families during Ramadan. He believes that the steep hike in the price of housemaids is quite normal at this time of the year with Ramadan fast approaching. Nashmi, however, warned families against falling prey to the messages because they are often fake. "These brokers are only after embezzling money from Saudi families, who should be very vigilant to their machinations," he warned. Yahya Al-Maqbool, chairman of the recruitment committee of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), warned the brokers that they might be charged with human trafficking and would face severe punishment. He attributed the phenomenon to the hurdles before recruitment from the countries that used to sent domestic workers to the Kingdom and the inability of the recruitment offices to provide housemaids at short notice. "This is in addition to the problems of flight booking, delay of flights and the procrastination of labor exporting countries to provide enough number of housemaids," Maqbool said.
