JEDDAH — The requests for the recruitment of domestic helps from abroad declined by 20 percent in anticipation of the resumption of recruitment service from Indonesia and Ethiopia. Indonesian and Ethiopian house helps are the most desired workers for Saudi families especially because of the rising costs of recruitment from other countries. The demand declined also because of the long time required to recruit workers from certain countries, in addition to the complicated procedures. Employees at a number of recruitment offices told Al-Madina newspaper that the opening of new destinations, in addition to expediting efforts for the return of Indonesian and Ethiopian domestic workers, will again increase the recruitment requests. Jamal Al-Zahrani, head of the recruitment committee at the Taif Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said ever since the agreement to resume recruiting domestic workers from Indonesia was signed, the number of recruitment requests declined in anticipation of the return of housemaids from that country. He said domestic help from Indonesia and Ethiopia are the skilled. The increase in recruitment costs from other countries also contributed to the decline in the number of requests, he added. Hasan Al-Mutairi, head of recruitment committee at the Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said requests to recruit domestic helps declined by 50 percent in the region, compared to a few years ago. He attributed the decline to changing economic conditions, in addition to the rising costs of recruitment. He said suspending recruitment from countries that cost more than SR10,000 or demand advance deposits of salaries, will help cut the costs and will increase hiring.
