Initial deal reached for Ethiopia domestic workers jobs

Operators of domestic labour recruitment agencies in Ethiopia recently visited Kuwait and reached initial employment contracts, a step expected to ease a shortage in such workforce in the country, Al Jarida newspaper reported citing an labour affairs expert.

Bassam Al Shamiri, a specialist in domestic labour affairs said, “This step signals an imminent breakthrough in reaching a Kuwaiti-Ethiopian memorandum of understanding regulating recruitment of labour from Addis Ababa.”

The Ethiopian embassy is expected to open its new premises in Kuwait next month, helping in the recruitment process of Ethiopian workers with the aim to ease a severe shortage in Kuwait, Al Shamiri said.

“Several local recruitment offices are waiting for signing the MoU between both sides to clear the way for reaching initial recruitment contracts known as job orders with their counterparts in Addis Ababa,” he added.

Al Shamiri argued that recruitment of Ethiopian workers will introduce balance in the Kuwaiti market and solve the current shortage, citing low costs and wages of such labour.

He said that major problems for recruitment of overseas workers include high prices of air tickets amid a controversial decision by the Kuwaiti Ministry of Commerce setting a cap of KD890 as a cost of recruiting a domestic worker from abroad.