Domestic Workers Invading Private Sector Requires Urgent Action

Local labor markets continue to experience a shortage of domestic workers, with the government agencies incapable of finding solutions to halt its escalation.

According to domestic worker agencies, a large number of these workers have entered the private sector to take advantage of the severe shortage of craftsmen and professionals in the labor market and the repercussions of the Public Authority for Manpower's decision to renew residence permits for non-graduate expats 60 and over, leaving thousands of craftsmen and professionals out of work, creating a parallel market for domestic workers to fill that gap, causing a multitude of problems for citizens and residents, especially during Ramadan and summer vacation, according to a local Arabic newspaper.

The statistics issued by the concerned authorities confirm this, showing tens of thousands of workers in this category have found employment in the private sector in spite of violating labor and residence laws, but the money offered by the private sector, especially in the construction sector is worth the risk, since they can make a quick buck and leave the country without remorse, since some say their three- or four-month salary is equivalent to one month's pay in the private sector as they mostly work for daily wages.

Some owners of businesses recruiting domestic workers confirmed "poverty on the labor market" after the government agencies continued to be confused, lack of coordination among them, and resulting mistakes complicate and exacerbate the labor market's troubles.

Bassam Al-Shammari, a local expert on domestic labor, says the phenomenon of infiltrating domestic labor into private industry is escalating in a way that is unprecedented. Solutions are needed urgently, as well as an effective response by the government so that things can be put back in their rightful place.

The figures released by the Public Authority for Manpower show that 60 percent of the menial labor workforce works violations of residence and employment laws, who are caught during field inspection campaigns and deported, most of whom are migrant workers who work on a daily basis.

According to Shammari, this is because craftsmen and professional workers have migrated from the country and consequently there is a severe shortage in the market, which has prompted business owners to create a parallel market in order to fill the shortage, The reports emphasize certain government decisions are not prudent, especially the decision that for more than a year the government prohibited 60-year-olds with secondary education and lower from renewing permits, causing thousands of craftsmen to leave the country, and constituting a major reason behind the use of domestic workers to fill the gap.

According to Al-Shammari, another injury to the domestic workers is the decision of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry not to allow domestic worker recruitment services to charge more than 890 dinars for domestic work at a time when these agencies complain that costs are rising for tickets and medical treatment in labor exporting countries.

According to him, the government's confusion and the inapplicable decisions concerning recruitment of domestic workers and the estimate of the costs involved reveal a lack of awareness of the problem and the complete disconnection of the decision-makers from the reality on the ground. This has serious implications for the domestic labor market.

A major cause was also labor shortage, as he reports that government entities, including the workforce, had failed to address the imbalance in the country's demographic structure, as well as failure to take steps beyond traditional methods of prevention.

According to him, the current policy of calculating the estimated demand for labor does not comply with the nature of the work of recruitment offices which have to deal with many nationalities and that need to recruit people of each nationality able to communicate with the recruited workers, whether they are from the Philippines or India.

According to him, the mechanism used to calculate domestic workers' salaries should be reevaluated and enhanced to attract workers capable of enhancing the labor market, as well as to prevent them from infiltrating the private sector, where leaked labor earns much more than what domestic workers earn.

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