Saudi Arabia cuts wages for Kenya domestic workers by Sh80,000

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has moved to revise downwards the maximum wages payable to domestic workers of Kenyan origin by up to 17.2 percent or about Sh80,000 per month, alongside those of other countries that include Uganda, Ethiopia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

In a statement from the country’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development on Tuesday, Kenyan workers took the highest hit in the group of six, with the ceiling for the annual payable wage reducing by Sh79,747 from SR10,870 (Sh463,558) to SR9,000 (Sh383,811), translating to about a Sh6,600 monthly cut.

In the list, only the African countries got a double-digit percentage reduction, with Ethiopia taking a 14.5 percent cut as Uganda was hit with a 12.6 percent reduction from SR6,900 (Sh294,255) to SR5,900 (Sh251,609) and from SR9,500 (Sh405,134) to SR8,300 (Sh353,959) respectively.

Read: Tweet on calibre of Kenyan migrant workers in the Gulf puts Foreign Affairs PS on the spot

Philippine workers got the least cut at 7.5 percent as those from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh had their wages reduced by eight percent and 9.6 percent respectively.

“The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development has announced the reduction of the upper ceiling for the costs of recruiting domestic labour services in a number of countries…This step comes within the framework of the Ministry’s efforts to review recruitment costs and ensure fair prices,” reads a translated version of the statement that was originally posted yesterday on the ministry’s official website in Arabic.

The development, which comes at a time President William Ruto’s administration has launched an aggressive campaign to court international employers in efforts aimed at easing ballooning unemployment, is set to strike a blow to diaspora cash inflows as remittances from Saudi Arabia accounted for nearly two-thirds of transmittal growth during the eight-month period to August last year.

Last October, President Ruto announced that he had secured up to 350,000 job opportunities for Kenyans in the Middle East’s largest economy, saying at the time that local workers are preferred for their reputation as the most hardworking among all migrant workers.

“During my trip to Saudi Arabia last week, they needed 350,000 workers and they say Kenyan workers are better than the others because they’re hardworking,” stated Dr Ruto at the time.

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