Business News
Half of Hong Kong's foreign maids face sacking over minimum wage
Oct 12, 2009, 2:40 GMT
Hong Kong - More than half of Hong Kong's army of foreign maids would be sacked if proposals to increase their pay by around 160 US dollars a month are approved, a survey indicated Monday.
Fifty-three per cent of employers interviewed said they would terminate their Filipino, Indonesian and Thai domestic helpers if the rise demanded by maids unions was given the go-ahead.
Only 25 per cent of respondents said they would continue to employ their maids if the mandatory minimum wage was increased from 460 US dollars to 620 US dollars a month.
Around 560 employers were interviewed for the survey by the pro-business Liberal Party, which opposes an increase in the maids' minimum wage.
More than 200,000 women from the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand work as live-in maids for working Hong Kong families, doing housework and child care for a government-set minimum wage.
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