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HK to increase minimum wage for foreign domestic helpers by 2.4 pct

Xinhua, September 30, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government announced Wednesday that the Minimum Allowable Wage (MAW) for foreign domestic helpers ( FDHs) in Hong Kong will be increased by 2.4 percent, from 4,110 HK dollars to 4,210 HK dollars (about 543.22 U.S. dollars) per month.

The move came together with the increase of food allowance from not less than 964 HK dollars to 995 HK dollars. Under the Standard Employment Contract for hiring FDHs, employers are required to provide FDHs with food free of charge, or pay them a food allowance.

The new levels of the MAW and food allowance will apply to all FDH contracts signed on or after Oct. 1.

The government reviews the MAW for FDHs regularly, a government spokesman said, "in accordance with the established practice, we have carefully considered Hong Kong's general economic and labor market situations over the last year, as reflected through a basket of economic indicators, including the relevant income movement and price change in this year's review."

Moreover, the government has taken into account Hong Kong's future economic outlook in the near-term, as well as the need to strike a balance between affordability for employers on one hand and the livelihood of FDHs on the other in reaching the decision on the above-mentioned adjustment, the spokesman added.

The MAW and food allowance are set to protect FDHs from excessively low wages and protect local domestic workers from competition with FDHs. Employers may choose to provide FDHs terms better than the MAW and food allowance, depending on their individual circumstances.

The government's statistics shows that as at December 2014, there were 330,650 FDHs in Hong Kong, 3.01 percent up from 2013. A large majority of them came from the Philippines and Indonesia. (1 U.S. dollar = 7.75 HK dollars) Endi