The cost of hiring domestic workers’ is likely to come down in the next few months following the decision to restore recruitment from Indonesia, India and Nepal, Head of the National Recruitment Committee at the Council of Saudi Chambers (CSC) Saad Al-Baddah has said.

Recruitment of house-workers is currently allowed only from the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Kenya.

Al-Baddah, speaking to local media, refuted reports in a section of the press that the Ministry of Labor was pressurizing Indonesia to bring recruitment cost from that country on par with that of the Philippines.

The Ministry of Labor never discussed the issue of (house-workers) salaries with the respective countries and, similarly, the committee members are not allowed to publicize contents of negotiations conducted by the Ministry in this regard, he was quoted as saying.

On disparity of recruitment costs between the Kingdom and other GCC countries, he said this factor is decided by the demand-supply mechanism. While the GCC countries recruit about 7,000 house-workers per month, the Kingdom recruits about 40,000 workers, he said.

It may be recalled that the GCC Ministers of Labor and Social Affairs had a series of meetings to arrive at a consensus on a uniform law to govern recruitment and work of household labors in member states.