Although the domestic labor sector during 2022 looked stable because of the fall in demand and the noticeable increase in supply, recent data indicate crisis is looming, starting from next February.
Kuwait opened the door to recruiting domestic workers in February 2021 after the end of the most difficult periods of the “Corona” pandemic, which means that the contracts that have been in force since then, for a period of two years, will begin to expire as of next February, amid indications of signs of a new crisis, linked to a form essentially, the Filipino workforce is the most numerous, as it constitutes about 50 percent of the total number of female domestic workers and is the most in demand (about 184,000 out of 377,000), according to Al-Rai daily.
Bassam Al-Shammari, a specialist in domestic labor affairs, told the daily that the number of workers in the family sector until last September reached about 711 thousand, the majority of whom are females, in addition to about 40 thousand who entered the domestic labor market during the three months of 2022, which brings the total to about 750,000.
He pointed out that the recruitment crisis is not limited to one country, but is related to several countries, explaining that the memorandum of understanding with Ethiopia regarding domestic workers has been suspended for more than three years and has not yet been completed, which negatively affects the labor market and leads to higher prices.
Al-Shammari enumerated the most important reasons that led to the stability of the domestic labor sector during 2022 and the decline in complaints, include the issuance of the executive regulations of Law No. 68 of 2015 regarding domestic workers, which allowed the transfer of residence for domestic workers in several cases, including the sponsor’s breach of the terms of the contract or failure to pay salaries and end of service; the Public Authority for Manpower resorted to amicable solutions in resolving labor disputes, and allowing workers to transfer and increased awareness of the provisions of the law and knowledge of labor rights among the majority of sponsors, which led to the commitment of more than 70 percent of them.
However, with the increase in the number of domestic workers significantly during the past two years, the complaints of the workers increased and the government shelter was filled with them, and some of those who were not accepted by the government shelter took refuge in the shelters affiliated with their country’s embassies, until the average labor escape reached about 10 cases per day during the past two months, according to informed sources. .
With the slow pace of finding a solution to their problems, the numbers in shelters have multiplied, some of which may lack the necessities of life, for several reasons, most notably failure to pay the workers salaries and end of service or breach of the contract; the large number of temptations that the worker receives through some social media, with better job opportunities and lucrative sums of money in case she runs away from the sponsor and some fake offices that convince the worker that there is a job opportunity for her outside Kuwait, and to obtain a tourist visa for her to enter other countries in the region, so she refuses to work for her sponsor and demands her deportation, while sometimes bearing the cost of the ticket until she travels to the new work destination.
Al-Shammari explained that these reasons may lead to a crisis in the domestic labor market starting from February, if efforts are not combined to find an immediate and quick solution by all concerned parties, since the countries exporting domestic workers are limited and their number is small, after many countries stopped exporting labor to Kuwait, such as Indonesia, Nepal and Ethiopia, which have been waiting for the signing of the agreement for a long time, in addition to the current overcrowding of Filipino domestic workers in the government shelter and their embassy shelter.
He added that failure to properly end the suffering of workers forces embassies to establish unlicensed shelters sometimes, which may harm Kuwait’s reputation with international human rights organizations and may push countries to stop exporting workers.
The following is the list of nationalities for male and female workers in the domestic sector, India, 323,801, or 45.5 percent; the Philippines, 184,939, or 26 percent; Sri Lanka, 80,593, or 11.3 percent; Bangladesh, 78,521, an 11 percent and as for the other nationalities, they are distributed among Nepal, Ethiopia, Benin, Indonesia, Pakistan the Sudan and other nationalities.
Official figures showed that 4 countries, India, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, account for about 93 percent of the total workers, male and female, in the domestic sector, with about 668 thousand out of 711 thousand.
The Filipinos, Indians and Sri Lankans constitute the largest percentage of domestic workers, at 93 percent, as their numbers amount to about 352,000 out of 377,000.
As for the other nationalities, they are distributed among Nepal, Ethiopia, Benin, Indonesia and Pakistan Sudan and other nationalities.
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