Pinoy DH population in HK up by 534 in November

Foreign domestic workers in Central.

The Immigration Department (ImmD) recorded 208,677 domestic workers from the Philippines in November—up by 534 from the previous month—as an agency union head said this shows signs of stabilization in the recruitment process.

Thoman Chan, chairman of the Hong Kong Union of Employment Agencies, told Hong Kong News that the figure has not changed significantly because the hiring processes have not yet changed too much.

But with issues surrounding exorbitant training fees charged from workers coming to the fore, Chan predicts the number of domestic workers entering the city will drop in the following months.

“We are still trying to adjust to the new core structure, from Philippine agencies, some of them are starting to transfer the structure from Philippines to Hong Kong agency,” Chan said. “Then we need to increase the services fee from employers. Also, employers are adjusting. I think the figure will be reflected later in December or January.”

Agencies in the Philippines are scrambling following an announcement from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Hong Kong stating that training is not required to process an applicant for household work.

Some domestic workers have then flocked to the POLO to lodges complaints against these agencies, which may charge up to PHP45,000 for training fees.

But Chan said if employers will require training, they will have to shoulder this expense—unless a domestic worker applicant would train on her own initiative.

“If workers don’t want to pay, or the law does not allow them to pay training centres, then the agency must forward this cost or translate this cost to their partners in Hong Kong. Finally, it goes to the employer,” he said.

In September, the Indonesian government also moved to scrap training and fees for applicants for household service work in Hong Kong. There were 63 more Indonesian domestic workers in the city according to the ImmD data in November, totaling to 158,614.

Hong Kong hosted 375,988 domestic workers last month, up by 612 from October figures.