Foreign domestic workers have been granted a $50 increase in their minimum monthly wage, but maids' groups have described the amount as a token and an insult.
A coalition of migrant workers' groups has been lobbying the government to reinstate the minimum wage of $3,670. It was cut to $3,270 two years ago during the economic downturn, in conjunction with a $400 levy on employers of foreign domestic workers.
The $50-a-month increase amounts to a 1.5 per cent pay rise - or about $1.60 a day.
Philippine Consul-General Corazon Belmonte-Jover said $50 was relatively little compared with the $400 reduction in salary in 2003. 'But at least there is a sign that the Hong Kong government is paying attention to the wage-increase issue for household employees,' said Ms Belmonte-Jover.
The new minimum wage applies to employment contracts signed from today.
A government spokesman said the minimum wage was reviewed regularly in light of Hong Kong's 'economic and employment situation as reflected through a basket of economic indicators' - including income movement, price changes and labour-market conditions.
A Philippine concern group dismissed the $50 rise as a token, while migrant workers' groups labelled it an insult.
