Households looking to hire domestic workers in the coming months could face a severe shortage in their availability, as more countries become increasingly reluctant to send female domestic workers in Kuwait.
Revealing the dearth of domestic household workers, Bassam Al-Shammari, a specialist in domestic labor affairs, told local media that the scarcity came largely from the limited number of countries willing to send workers to Kuwait, as well as from the failure of authorities to source and sign contracts with other countries that had the potential to send domestic workers.
Al-Shammari revealed that the annual average demand for female domestic labor ranged from 420,000 to 450,000, while that for male workers was around 360,000, but the supply was far short of this demand. The shortfall has been exacerbated by the development of new urban areas and the increase in Kuwaiti household units in these suburbs requiring domestic workers.
Other factors contributing to constrictions in supply of workers include the non-renewal of domestic worker contracts for two years, as well as language problems, as many of the available workers were not able to converse in Arabic or English. Moreover, those able to speak the English language commanded a premium in salaries, and preferred to work in neighboring countries that offered higher salaries than those available in Kuwait.
Al-Shammari reported that requests at labor recruitment offices have doubled significantly this month, amid the severe shortage of labor supplies from countries such as the Philippines, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nepal and Bangladesh.
Among the reasons for the shortage of workers were a ban on issuing new visas for domestic workers from the Philippines; Ethiopia has suspended recruitment and is awaiting the signing of a bilateral agreement with Kuwait; and Indonesia has suspended the sending of workers to Kuwait since 2008.
Additionally, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find Indian domestic workers willing to come to Kuwait; workers from Nepal have to be hired either from India or the UAE; and Bangladesh has suspended the recruiting of workers from that country. The only country where workers are available and can still be recruited remains Sri Lana, noted Al-Shammari.