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Opinion | Hong Kong’s underpaid foreign domestic workers deserve a living wage
Beyond survival, a fair wage would keep them away from unscrupulous money lenders and make Hong Kong more attractive to skilled workers
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A debate over what constitutes a fair wage for Hong Kong’s foreign domestic workers has arisen between worker unions and employment agencies after the government announced a salary increase. The minimum wage for foreign domestic workers has increased by HK$120 (US$15) a month to HK$4,990, a 2.5 per cent rise, amid consumer price inflation in the city.
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This is lower than the 3 per cent pay rise for civil servants and 4 per cent average increase across the private sector – and smaller than the 3 per cent boost that foreign domestic workers received last year.
The Hong Kong Union of Employment Agencies, however, says the 2.5 per cent increase outstrips the city’s inflation rate of 1.7 per cent last year, disagreeing with workers’ need to keep up with inflation.
Still, the latest pay increase does not apply to the optional food allowance of at least HK$1,236 a month, or around HK$40 a day. And while the employment contract does not stipulate working hours, domestic workers in Hong Kong are known to have to work long hours.
A survey by the International Organisation for Migration, Migrasia and the University of Hong Kong last year found that 45 per cent worked between 12-15 hours per day, with 20 per cent working anywhere from 16 hours to 20 hours. This translates to hardly HK$20 an hour at the better end and less than HK$10 for the hardest-worked – a mere fraction of the statutory minimum wage of HK$40 an hour.
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While caring and domestic work relegated to the private sphere is often invisible and, as a result, undervalued, the Hong Kong government acknowledges the importance of migrant domestic workers to the economy.
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