Hire More Domestic Help to Overcome Shortage

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KUWAIT CITY, July 27: Bassam Al-Shammari, a specialist in domestic labor affairs, called on all concerned government agencies, led by the Public Authority for Manpower and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to speed up the pace of signing memorandums of understanding with new countries to recruit domestic workers in order to fill the current shortage in light of the expiry of the contracts of hundreds of them who desire to return to their countries, reports Aljarida daily. Al-Shammari said, “The First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Talal Al-Khalid directed PAM in May regarding the need to open frameworks for cooperation to recruit expatriate workers in the private and domestic sectors from new countries to fill the need of the market, which currently suffers from significant shortage in terms of professional and technical employment.

However, no steps have so far been announced on the ground in this regard.” He stressed that Sheikh Talal Al-Khalid’s directives also included coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to develop plans through which memorandums of understanding could be signed with new labor-exporting countries, in implementation of the state’s policies aimed at adjusting the demographics, and ensuring the diversity of countries exporting expatriate workers to fill their current shortage.

Al-Shammari affirmed the urgent need to increase the memorandums of understanding with new countries for the recruitment and use of domestic labor, and to open support activities for the employment of domestic workers, for example, daily or monthly work, in addition to ensuring financial rights, and the speedy settlement of labor disputes with employers. He called for separating the overlap in terms of specializations between PAM and other concerned government agencies, activating the educational policy for the three parties to the labor equation including recruitment and employment offices and employers, and introducing them to all the rights and duties guaranteed by the law.

Al-Shammari said, “Kuwait has the best laws in the region for regulating the recruitment and use of domestic workers, which include many and wide labor advantages such as paid annual leave, end-of-service reward and weekly leave, as well as determining the number of daily working hours. However, they need activation and follow-up to ensure their implementation.”

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