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AKARTA: The Manpower and Transmigration Ministry oversaw Wednesday’s departure of 519 workers to Saudi Arabia as part of the government’s program to gradually reduce the supply of informal workers and housemaids to the kingdom.

Director general for overseas labor placement Reyna Usman said the workers have been adequately trained and would be employed in construction projects, hotels and public transportation in Jeddah, Madina, Mecca and Riyadh.

“Like thousands of nurses previously sent, the workers would be paid between Rp 14 million and Rp 18 million monthly, depending on their job and the sectors,” she said.

Reyna explained that the government would open more job vacancies for formal workers in Saudi Arabia and regularly reduce the supply of informal ones, who were relatively prone to human rights abuses.

“We have targeted to stop sending informal workers in 2017,” she said.

The government has been under fire for the increasing number of workers who died overseas or who received death sentences for committing crimes. Critics have said the government only focuses on workers’ remittances rather than their protection abroad.