Paying more for domestic helpers: Hong Kong’s supply of such workers shrinks, forcing desperate employers into ‘bidding war’
- Flight bans hit helper arrivals from Philippines and Indonesia, 21-day quarantine adds to costs
- Agents complain of difficulty making bookings at two designated quarantine facilities for helpers
There are six potential employers for every domestic worker in Hong Kong and some are offering as much as HK$5,500 (US$706) to HK$6,500 a month without success, according to Anliza Hung, an agent at Well Harmony Employment Services.
The supply dried up after city authorities suspended flights from the Philippines in April and Indonesia in June, as Covid-19 infections surged in the two Southeast Asian countries which send the most helpers to Hong Kong.
The number of domestic workers fell to 370,000 last year compared with nearly 400,000 in 2019, and Hong Kong families are anxious for help caring for children and the elderly.
The minimum wage for foreign domestic workers is HK$4,630 per month.
“There simply aren’t enough domestic helpers in Hong Kong,” Hung said. “They’re almost all employed already, leaving those households who want to hire a helper with no options but to offer higher wages or go through the complicated process of hiring from the Philippines and Indonesia.”
New Hong Kong quarantine rooms for helpers booked in just minutes
An employer can get the agency to hire a newcomer from the Philippines or Indonesia, but that will cost more – at least HK$2,000 in airline tickets plus HK$10,080 for a 21-day compulsory quarantine at the government-run facility.
She said about 30 to 40 employers came to her company each month hoping to find helpers ready to start work, but there were very few or none of them now.
Only about a dozen employers each month were willing to have the agency recruit from the Philippines or Indonesia because that would mean paying more for flights and quarantine in Hong Kong.
In a recent survey conducted by licensed online agency HelperChoice, foreign domestic workers have been earning HK$5,144 per month on average, a 2.63 per cent increase from an earlier survey last year.
‘Hiccups’ inevitable when quarantine facility opens to helpers: welfare chief
Mahee Leclerc, its managing director, said it was only fair for domestic helpers to expect higher wages as many had been facing financial hardship back home and tougher working conditions in Hong Kong during the pandemic.
“Although I do understand it is also financially difficult for [employers], I wish there was a subsidy to help them hire at these higher prices,” Leclerc said.
The minimum wage was kept unchanged at HK$4,630 last year, with the Labour Department saying the economic slump had affected employers’ ability to afford helpers.
Recruitment agents said even when their clients were willing to pay more to bring in helpers, the process was stalled by a severe shortage of accommodation at the two designated quarantine facilities.
At the government-run Penny’s Bay quarantine facility, 800 rooms were snapped up within minutes on September 14, and authorities have suspended reservations beyond October 19 to review the booking mechanism.
At the other facility, Silka Tsuen Wan hotel, where a room costs HK$800 per night, all 409 rooms that opened for booking on August 28 were gone by the end of the day.
Hung said: “We were helping six top-priority employers book a quarantine room for incoming helpers but after 10 minutes we couldn’t even access the booking platform any more. It’s driving us crazy.”
Hung said an elderly couple in urgent need of a helper had been unable to hire one for months.
The Well Harmony agency placed the couple on its priority list because the man, in his 90s, had dementia and his wife, 87, had lower back pain and both had chronic illnesses.
Another family needed a helper to look after three young children because both parents were working.
While the children were home for their summer holidays, relatives and neighbours helped check on them.
“For that client, the visa of the domestic helper was approved in March. It’s September now, and she’s still in Indonesia. We have to extend her visa soon just for her to enter Hong Kong,” Hung said.
Meanwhile, a Filipino helper, who wished to remain anonymous, was among those who arrived in Hong Kong on Tuesday with the help of The Helper Employment Agency Limited.
The 41-year-old from Pangasinan province, 210km north of Manila, waited four months to get to Hong Kong and is at the Penny’s Bay facility.
“I’m happy to finally be here to work,” she told the Post, adding that she had five children, aged 14 to 21, depending on her and this was her first time working abroad.
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Inside Hong Kong's mandatory coronavirus quarantine camp at Penny's Bay
The former farm market salesperson will work for a middle-aged couple after completing her quarantine.
“This is my only option,” she said. “No matter how difficult it is, I will endure the pain and work for a better future for them.”
Her older children, aged 21 and 18, had finished school and were also hoping to work overseas.
Gilbert Ho, director of The Helper Employment Agency Limited, said the woman was one of the lucky ones who had all the paperwork in place that made it easier to book her quarantine slot.
His company managed to book six quarantine rooms, but still had a backlog of more than 40 clients waiting for their helpers to arrive in Hong Kong.
