Saudi Gazette report RIYADH — The monthly salaries of Bangladeshi housemaids will be determined by supply and demand and the level of wages of workers in the private sector, according to a Bangladeshi official. “In all cases the salaries will not be less than SR800 a month,” Labor Attaché at the Bangladeshi Embassy in Riyadh Mohammed Sarwar Alam said. He told Makkah on Monday that the housemaids will also be entitled to one day off a week. “Before leaving for the Kingdom, the housemaids will receive an intensive four to six week training program on the Saudi dialect, social values, culture and norms and traditions,” he said. Alam said the arrival of the housemaids in the Kingdom depends largely on the Saudi stakeholders, how fast the work visas are issued and when the recruitment procedures are finalized. He said the Saudi recruitment companies would share part of the responsibility of training the housemaids after they have been selected. Tayseer Al-Mofareh, spokesman of the Labor Ministry, said imports of manpower from Bangladesh would start with the house helps including housemaids, drivers and gardeners. He expected their number to reach 500,000. “After that we will start recruiting workers for construction and other sectors,” he added. He did not reveal the duration of the intervals between the imports of house helps and other workers. Al-Mofareh dispelled fears that Bangladeshi housemaids may be untrained and said they received enough guarantees from Dhaka that they will be thoroughly trained before arriving in the Kingdom.
