Kuwait City: Like many sectors, the hiring business sector has been greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Several points contributed to the forced closure of many recruitment agencies, from the curfew that followed 161 to the economic crisis.
Kuwaiti Federation of Domestic Workers Director Khaled Al Dakhan said the ban in 31 countries had also contributed to the decline of the sector.
Due to the ban in 31 countries, many domestic employees cannot return to Kuwait abroad, most of whom are from India, the Philippines, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
“The decline of this sector was not only due to Corona, it happened earlier this year when the Philippine president banned domestic staff from coming to Kuwait,” Al Dakhan told Al Anba.
In January, the Philippine government banned the deployment of newly hired people in Kuwait after an autopsy of Filipino domestic assistants showed that she had been sexually assaulted and then killed through her employer.
“But then the COVID-19 pandemic occurred and left the sector in a state of total paralysis, as many recruitment agencies were closed for a long time,” Al Dakhan said.
Kuwait had a curfew from 22 March to 30 August, and curfew time was regularly replaced, regularly every month, when a national curfew was imposed between 10 and 30 May.
“The coronavirus pandemic has overshadowed homeowners and led them to bankruptcy,” said Abdulaziz Al Ali, a federation adviser and former president of Al Anba.
The federation has asked the Public Labour Authority to save bankruptcy procurement agencies. Many owners of recruitment agencies, under pressure that they continue to pay hires and salaries, stopped.
The black market for domestic staff has increased in recent months due to the continued closure of recruitment agencies. Brokers supply domestic staff illegally and at a very high price, taking advantage of the lack of competition.
Last month, the Department of Residential Affairs, in coordination with the Public Labor Authority, discovered that 90% of domestic staff had expired their permit, a source from Al Qabas said.
It is known who runs these networks of illegal domestic workers.
In May, the Indian Embassy warned Indian citizens to oppose fake recruitment agencies and told them to review all available homework opportunities.
Recruitment agencies in Kuwait act as intermediaries between the employer and the employee. There is a wide variety of recruitment agencies because they tend to specialize in a specific area, be they medical workers, structure workers, domestic workers, etc.
In maximum cases, the company in Kuwait works with foreign agencies, either in Mumbai or Manila, to hire in Kuwait. Most recruitment agencies hire staff from Asian countries such as India, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.
Many have criticized recruitment agencies for their lack of transparency, as many employees arrive in Kuwait only to find out that they are making the paintings for which they were hired or who pay them less than promised.
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