Bangladeshi house maids top the choice of Saudi families in view of their availability and lower wages, Arab News reports.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has reportedly shifted its focus of recruitment of domestic help to Bangladesh as Dhaka claims lower wages compared to the pays for house maids from the Philippines and Sri Lanka.
In a report titled “Affordable’ Bangladeshi maids top choice in KSA” published on 1 May, Arab News said many Saudi families are not interested in recruiting maids from the Philippines and Sri Lanka because of a huge difference in wages.
“Most Saudis have shown interest in recruiting maids from Bangladesh,” chairman of the recruitment committee at the Madinah Chamber of Commerce and Industry Hamid Al-Balehshi was quoted to have said.
Saudi authorities are said to have set up 94 offices in Bangladesh to facilitate the recruitment procedure.
Assigning reasons of priority to hiring of Bangladeshi maids, Arab News quoted an analyst as arguing that the Bangladesh authorities have “brought down the recruitment cost to SR8,000 and monthly salary to SR800.”
The report pointed out that recruitment from the Philippines and Sri Lanka would cost SR16,000 and SR20,000 respectively.
Al-Balehshi reportedly said the Saudi authorities “insisted that Bangladesh train the workers before sending them to the Kingdom.”
