Saudi Arabia is facing an acute shortage of foreign manpower, the chairman of the National Recruitment Committee at the Saudi Council of Chambers of Commerce Sa'ad Al-Badah, told a local newspaper. In an interview with Al-Watan Arabic daily, Al-Badah said the impact of the manpower shortage is expected to be particularly felt in the next few months if the restrictions on recruitment of expatriates continue. The expatriate workforce in Saudi Arabia is estimated at about six million. He blamed the shortage on the recent departure of a number of foreigners due to a sharp increase in cost of living and high recruitment fees. He feared that the Kingdom's recruitment market will suffer from a drastic shortage in foreign manpower, particularly housemaids and skilled and unskilled workers. The crisis, he felt, is due to the fact that many European recruitment agencies are turning to India, Philippines and Indonesia, the traditional source of blue-collared laborers in the Gulf, to recruit migrant labor. The salaries of these workers have increased tremendously because of competition from these countries, he said. Al-Badah said the sharp increase in the demand for foreign manpower has prompted labor-exporting countries to toughen employment conditions and increase the minimum wages of the people recruited by the Kingdom and other Gulf countries. “In the past, we used to offer unskilled workers from India between SR400 and SR500, but now the minimum salary is SR700. The same applies to Indonesian migrant labor, especially housemaids and drivers,” Al-Badah added. The increase in demand has upset the balance of supply, Al-Badah said. As a result, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries will suffer from a drastic shortage in foreign manpower, particularly skilled workers who are needed for new development projects. As for the necessary steps to overcome the labor shortage, he said, the committee is looking for new sources for migrant workers. The Kingdom brings in 70,000 workers annually, including 40,000 housemaids. Al-Badah said the emergence of the newly set up recruitment companies will eliminate the malpractices of the past and put an end to most problems, especially those of absconding housemaids and drivers. There will no longer be sponsors since these companies will take over the responsibility of the sponsors and directly monitor the workers they bring in, Al-Badah pointed out. He said these companies will set up huge housing centers in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam. Each center will accommodate 20,000 to 30,000 workers where the housemaids will be trained for two to three weeks. On completion of the orientation course, a citizen will approach the company and employ the worker he needs, after opening an account in the name of the worker into which he will deposit the monthly salary. This will reduce the recruitment procedure to three days, he said.
