No more increases in costs for Indonesian housemaids. This is the assurance being given by local Saudi recruiting agencies over fears that another cost increase was coming after prices went up on April 1 this year. The Indonesian government and recruitment agencies in that country raised prices last month by $100 (SR375), which now means a total cost of over SR9,000 for each Indonesian housemaid. Some recruitment offices here have raised their fees to SR9,500. The monthly salary of SR800 for each worker will remain the same. The new price for recruitment also came with an increase from 45 to 90 days for a housemaid to arrive in the Kingdom. This was to allow for training. In addition, all recruitment woud also have to be certified by the Indonesian embassy in Riyadh. Hamad Muhammad, owner of a recruitment agency, said that current indications are that there are no new cost hikes in the pipeline. He said the cost increase has not affected the availability of Indonesian workers directly, as many contracting offices are still facing great difficulties in providing the required numbers. In other words, despite the increase in fees, there is still a shortage of available workers. This situation has resulted in many national offices increasing the time ceiling for the arrival of workers to the Kingdom. This is to give offices in Indonesia sufficient time to fulfill their commitments to provide workers. Muhammad called on Indonesian contracting offices to assist in solving the shortage crisis, especially because there is expected to be a huge demand for workers later this year. With the coming of the holy month of Ramadan, the demand by Saudi families for domestic help will increase. 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 a 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.
