BERNAMA – A total of 100 foreigners will be employed for housekeeping jobs as early as later this year as part of the South Korean government pilot project to address a dwindling number of locals willing to work as maids despite rising demand, officials said yesterday.
The project, scheduled to be introduced in Seoul as early as December, aims to tackle the shortage of local individuals willing to work as maids and to support women in continuing their careers, according to the Office for Government Policy Coordination under the Prime Minister’s Office.
Under the project, 100 people from mostly Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines, will provide housekeeping and infant care services for approximately six months, Yonhap news agency quoting the office said.
Priority in the project will be given to households where both the husband and the wife are in their 20s to 40s and are working, as well as to single-parent families, households with pregnant women and families with multiple children, it added.
Households can also hire foreign maids for part-time jobs, and these maids are likely to be paid less than the current market rate for housekeeping jobs, which is KRW15,000 (USD11.40) per hour, officials said.
“It is a necessary measure to effectively respond to a labour shortage,” Government Policy Coordination Minister Bang Ki-seon said, stressing the need for comprehensive monitoring since the project directly relates to family affairs.
The number of local domestic helpers has gradually decreased, with 92.3 per cent of them aged over 50, according to the Labour Ministry.
Domestic workers who reside in their employer’s home while providing housekeeping or care work typically charge about KRW3.5 to KRW4.5 million per month.
The government plans to expand the service to other parts of the country after co ducting an analysis of the pilot project’s performance.
