Hong Kong salary hike a gain for Filipino domestic workers – DMW chief

Department of Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople. Senate PRIB

MANILA, Philippines — An increase in the salary of foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong will greatly help overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) there as they could now earn up to P35,475 a month, said Department of Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople.

Ople said in a statement on Thursday that the P750 pay adjustment was granted two years after a wage freeze in Hong Kong due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“At this time of rising prices due to a stronger US dollar, this new minimum wage hike is a boon to our kasambahays in HK (Hong Kong),” she noted.

Ople also pointed out that the new monthly minimum wage in Hong Kong is far different from the salary range of a housekeeper in the Philippines which is from P3,500 in the Zamboanga Peninsula and P5,500 in Central Visayas to P6,000 in Metro Manila.

The Hong Kong government earlier raised the minimum allowable wage and food allowance. It took effect from October 1.

This development was celebrated by several OFWs in HK, according to the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW).

Citing the HK Immigration Department, the DMW said at least 188,171 OFWs are in the city as of end-August 2022.

This figure, it added, is more than half of the estimated 333,000 foreign migrant worker labor force in Hong Kong. – Kristelle Anne Razon, trainee

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