The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) is studying the possibility of reducing the cost of bringing domestic workers through offices from KD990 to kd890 dinars, Al Rai daily reported.
Al Rai said, quoting informed sources that discussions recently took place between the MoCI Minister, Minister of State for Economic Affairs Faisal Al-Medlej, the Manpower Authority, and Labor Union offices, which is considering the possibility of reducing the cost of recruitment through offices by KD100 dinars, in an effort to reduce the financial costs on citizens
The sources indicated to the daily that “the head of the Federation of Domestic Workers Recruitment Agencies, Khaled Al-Dakhnan, stated that the labor recruitment prices cannot be reduced from KD990 dinars due to the costs of travel tickets under the circumstances of the Coronavirus pandemic, in addition to the employer having to pay the costs to NAS’ Belsalamah.com for facilitating the arrival of domestic workers under the health measures, which includes institutional quarantine with travel tickets.
The sources pointed out that the employment offices justified the inability to reduce costs of transportation, medical checks and quarantine housing for domestic workers, which are required under the health procedures due to the threat of the coronavirus pandemic before the domestic worker can start work. This is in addition to the high costs incurred by local offices for following up on recruitment procedures and setting up contracts with foreign offices.