South Korea Needs More Filipino Domestic Helpers
On May 10, South Korea‘s Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Seoul Metropolitan Government shared that the government is considering a pilot project to introduce foreign domestic helpers for housework and care. The government plans to come up with a detailed pilot project plan in the first half of this year. It is expected that foreign domestic helpers from Southeast Asia will be introduced in the second half of this year.
An official from the Ministry of Employment and Labor said, “We will prepare a detailed pilot project plan for the introduction of foreign domestic helpers in the first half of this year.”
First of all, the government plans to allow a certain amount of foreigners to enter Korea on a visa for non-professional employment, “E-9.” E-9 visas can only work at workplaces designated by the employment permit system, and in principle, they can stay for three years. According to current information, “household workers” will be added to the E-9 visa, and applicants from the Philippines will be able to get jobs at domestic housekeeping firms.
South Korea’s minimum wage will apply to foreign domestic helpers. The government is expected to apply South Korea’s minimum wage to them in consideration of violations of the International Labor Organization’s anti-discrimination agreement. In this case, the monthly salary of foreign domestic helpers will be around 2 million won.
South Korea’s minimum wage is 9,620 won ($7.31) per hour. This translates into about 2.1 million won a month, including weekly holiday allowances if one works eight hours a day. This is more than 30% cheaper than the salaries of domestic housekeepers. Currently, the average hourly wage for Korean household helpers in China is paid at 13,000 won. The average hourly wage for Korean household helpers is set at more than 15,000 won.
Foreign domestic helpers are likely to work by commuting, not the “resident type” who lives at home and helps with housework. Foreign domestic helpers are one of the issues that Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon has emphasized the need to introduce several times since last year in line to solve the record-breaking low birth rate problem of the country by reducing the childcare burden.
Mayor Oh also said on his Facebook page last month, “I agree that Michael Cramer, a professor at Chicago University in the U.S., who won the Nobel Prize in Economics, mentioned immigration policies in Hong Kong and Singapore.”
He said, “It’s time for our society to develop a parallel system that can work and raise children at the same time.”. “There are voices opposing the system itself, but there is no good or evil in the system, but it is okay to take advantage of it and apply it according to our situation.”
With the introduction of foreign domestic helpers becoming visible, expectations and concerns arise at the same time among parents who will use them. It is highly expected that foreign domestic helpers will expand parents’ choices.
South Korea needs to accept more immigrants in the long run due to its declining birthrate, which will eventually result in a national pension fiasco and possibly higher taxes. In addition to reaching a compromise on wage levels, proponents need to be aware of a myriad of problems in other countries. They should shift the discussion to include migrant workers’ perspectives.
