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Inside Out | Do right by foreign workers to preserve Hong Kong’s competitive advantage
- Foreign domestic workers are an often-overlooked part of Hong Kong’s success story, and they are struggling amid the city’s push for ‘zero Covid’
- Flight bans, a shortage of quarantine hotels and other difficulties are hurting thousands of families in both Hong Kong and the Philippines
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In recent decades, Hong Kong’s competitive advantage has been built upon diverse foundations. Some are obvious and repeated ad nauseam – low and simple tax rates, trusted legal system, unique access to the mainland and so on. But some are noticed less often and taken for granted until Covid-19 struck, such as our army of foreign domestic workers.
They make up more than 9 per cent of our workforce and provide support in at least 275,000 Hong Kong homes. Paid a pittance and often working long hours in claustrophobic circumstances, they make it possible for tens of thousands of Hong Kong mothers to pursue meaningful, well-paid careers, strengthening our local skills pool for the thousands of international companies based here.
It has enabled Hong Kong to achieve a 54 per cent female workforce participation rate. That is behind Singapore, but on a par with Japan and well ahead of the global average of around 47 per cent.
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In recent years, an increasing number of domestic workers have also come to care for Hong Kong’s elderly and infirm, enabling them to age at home and stay out of expensive elderly care homes. But Hong Kong’s strict “zero Covid” strategy has turned this formerly well-oiled system topsy-turvy.
The ban on flights from the Philippines – the source of many of Hong Kong’s helpers – has left thousands of helpers stuck in the Philippines. Whether they were back home on leave or waiting for flights to start new contracts, they are now stranded and will remain that way until flights are resumed. Even when flights start afresh, they face two weeks of quarantine. A shortage of quarantine hotel rooms makes even this process uncertain.
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