Some Saudi recruitment companies have started to implement the new cost for employing Indonesian women as domestic workers. Some recruitment offices here have raised their fees to SR9,500. This comes in the wake of the Indonesian government stipulating that the cost of recruitment will be raised by $100 (SR375) by April this year, which means a total cost of over SR9,000 for each Indonesian housemaid. The monthly salary of SR800 for each worker will remain the same. The new price for recruitment also comes with an increase from 45 to 90 days for a housemaid to arrive in the Kingdom. This is to allow for training. All recruitment will also have to be certified by the Indonesian embassy in Riyadh. Hussein Abduljabbar, a recruitment office owner, said the increase was because the brokerage agencies in Indonesia, which provide the recruitment offices with labor, have asked for more money. He said his office is still implementing the old recruitment fees of SR9,000, but that the increase of SR500 may still happen in future. He added that all offices have started adding an article in their contracts allowing for a longer period for the arrival of housemaids. Another office owner, who did not want his name to be mentioned, said his company has started applying the new increase. He said he is compelled to abide by the demands of the brokerage agencies in Indonesia because they are the main source of domestic workers to the Kingdom. He said there was a reduction in supply which made the search costlier. Saudi Gazette has previously reported that some recruitment agencies in the Kingdom did not want to comply with the increased cost and was instead trying to recruit Indian and Nepalese domestic workers. Hussein Al-Mutteri, a member of the National Recruitment Committee, was quoted as saying recently that private recruitment offices and agencies in the Kingdom consider the increase “unjustifiable” because it adds a greater financial burden onto Saudi citizens who want to employ these workers. He argued that the attitude of the Indonesian government will force the authorities in the Kingdom and the national recruitment offices to consider other options for the recruitment of house helpers. He said the national recruitment committee is “working hard” to remove the obstacles hampering the recruitment of housemaids from Nepal and India. If they succeed, then the prices will drop significantly, he said. He said the decision to reject the proposed additional fees was taken by the private recruitment offices without any intervention from an official party. He said this was a firm and collective stand that reflects their determination not to submit to any pressure or exploitation. “The owners of the offices are already unhappy with the current prices, how will they then accept this unjustifiable new increase?” Al-Mutteri had previously said that they were trying to recruit Tajikistani workers. The cost of employing a Tajikistan domestic worker will be about SR5,000 at a monthly salary of SR600.
