A reduction in the number of Indonesian domestic workers has led to the largest crisis in the Saudi recruitment market. Visas are accumulated at Indonesian recruitment offices because no workers can be recruited, Al-Madina reported. The crisis caused problems for recruiters as well as those seeking workers. Several companies filed complaints with police and labor officials against recruitment offices for failing to deliver workers as promised. Recruitment offices have lost money because they are unable to find another country to recruit workers from. Close to 90 percent of domestic workers in the Kingdom are from Indonesia. The shortage resulted in an increase in the number of illegal maids, many of whom demanded an increase in their salaries to more than SR1,500. The head of the Recruitment Committee at Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Muhsin Al-Omairi said the recruitment market is witnessing a large crisis which has affected the income of recruitment offices. He said because so many Arab countries recruit from Indonesia, it developed a black market there. No country can provide the number of workers needed so far. Arrangements with Ethiopia still have not finished, but it is unlikely Ethiopia can cover the need alone, he said. The phenomenon of illegal maids is widespread in Jeddah, especially with the approach of Ramadan which is when many legal maids runaway from their sponsors to look for better opportunities. In the Jeddah black market, an Indonesian maid receives SR1,500, an Ethiopian recevies SR1,000 and a Somali receives SR800. However, a researcher estimated that SR38 million is lost by maids escaping their sponsors every year. He said the number of illegal maids increased by more than 40 percent this year.
