Crackdown on Filipino maids in Shenzhen amid rising demand

Shenzhen authorities have launched a third crackdown on agencies who recruit Filipino maids to work in the city illegally, according to a local official.

Few details are known about the crackdown. Last year, police found two cases of illegal hiring of Filipino maids. Foreign domestic workers are illegal on the mainland.

Lu Zhenkun, secretary-general of the Shenzhen Home Economics Association, estimated more than 1,000 Filipino maids worked in the city and said rising demand meant the problem would not be solved soon.

'The rising number of cases is partially the result of an increasing demand from rich people,' Lu said, 'Illegal Filipino maids will be a long-term problem in Shenzhen and elsewhere on the mainland, as the market for high-quality help confronts the law to ban foreign maids.'

Two groups of people typically hire Filipino maids in Shenzhen: the more than 40,000 multimillionaires and the more than half a million Hongkongers who have moved across the border. Shenzhen is the richest area of Guangdong.

'Hong Kong people who move to Shenzhen from Hong Kong will bring their Filipino maids; some rich people believe a Filipino maid provides better service and increases their societal status.' Lu said.

There is a growing middle class, increasing demand for quality help. But to meet it, agents who recruit the maids are violating the law. 'All the Filipino maids in Shenzhen who cross the border illegally without work permits are not allowed to work as professional helpers,' Lu said.