According to local media, Saudi Arabia has resumed hiring Indonesian house workers after an 11-year hiatus.

Dr. Abdullah Abuthunain, Saudi Arabia's Deputy Minister of Human Resources and Social Development for Labour, and Indonesia's Minister of Manpower Ida Fauziyah signed an agreement to resume recruiting Indonesian domestic workers to Saudi Arabia. As part of the agreement, recruitment will be handled by recruitment companies from August 11, 2022.

During a high-level Saudi delegation's visit to Jakarta, the agreement was signed. During technical meetings between the two sides, Saudi officials discussed topics of common interest on the labour market and the operational aspects of the new recruitment program.

With the signing of the agreement, efforts are being made to break the deadlock regarding the recruitment of house workers after an 11-year hiatus.

After a housemaid was executed for killing her Saudi employer in 2011, Indonesia suspended sending housemaids to Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region. The outbreak of Coronavirus delayed the arrival of domestic workers sent by Indonesia to the Kingdom and other Middle Eastern countries.

The Saudi Arabian embassy in Indonesia had revealed a few months ago that both countries were exploring the prospect of resuming housework recruitment. According to embassy sources, Indonesian domestic workers will no longer be recruited by individual employers, but by companies that will use them on the Saudi labour market.