Saudi sets min wage for domestic workers

Published by rudy Date posted on April 3, 2012

Saudi Arabia has set a minimum wage of SAR600-800 (US$160-213) for foreign domestic workers in the Gulf state.

Officials in the GCC’s largest country set the cost of recruitment fees at SAR15,000 – 17,000, local media reported citing Saad Al-Badah, chairman of the national recruitment committee at the Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Recruitment fees will be inclusive of visa costs, two-year medical insurance, a one-way ticket, residence permit fees for two years and a medical checkup, said Al-Badah, adding that he expected the move to reduce the number of runaway cases amongst domestic workers by 80 percent.

Saudi Arabia, like much of the Gulf region, depends on foreign workers to fill jobs at all levels of the economy. The Gulf state is home to around 8m foreign workers.

The kingdom stopped issuing visas for domestic workers from the Philippines and Indonesia after those governments attempted to impose stricter conditions on Saudi employers, such as higher minimum pay and better working conditions.

The Philippines government last month said it was close to agreeing a deal with the kingdom that would set the minimum wage for Filipino nationals working in the kingdom – estimated at around 1.2m – at US$300.

Around 15 percent of Filipinos workers in the kingdom are estimated to work as maids or drivers.

Last month it was reported that the oil-rich state planned to import 45,000 Ethiopian nationals into the kingdom every month in order to meet its requirement for domestic workers.  –Claire Valdini, http://www.arabianbusiness.com/saudi-sets-min-wage-for-domestic-workers-452156.html

April 2025

World Day for Safety and Health at Work
“Safety and health at work every day!”

Invoke Article 33 of the ILO constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations against serious violations of Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government
(NUG) of Myanmar.
Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideos

Time to support & empower survivors. Time to spark a global conversation. Time for #GenerationEquality to #orangetheworld!

Monthly Observances:

March – Women’s Role in History Month
April – Month of Planet Earth

Weekly Observances:
Last Week of March: Protection and Gender Fair Treatment of the Girl Child Week
Last Week of April – World Immunization Week

Daily Observances:
Mar 25 – International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transallantic Slave Trade
Mar 27– Earth Hour
Apr 21 – Civil Service Day
Apr 22 – World Earth Day
Apr 28 – World Day for Safety and Health at Work

Trade Union Solidarity Campaigns

No to Trafficking

Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!

Categories