Vague job descriptions, wage concerns: Will South Korea’s pilot to hire Filipino domestic workers take off?

NEED TO PRIORITISE DOMESTIC LABOUR

Sociology professor Lee Joo-hee of Ewha Womans University told CNA that if Korean domestic helpers were given full-time work and the same benefits as their Filipino counterparts, many South Korean women would be willing to do the job. 
 
“If there is money to spend, it should first be used to improve this sector, where workers often do not even receive the minimum wage,” she added. 
 
“The focus should be on making these jobs better and prioritising domestic labour. This is important because the labour force participation rate of women in South Korea is also very low.”
 
In 2022, there were around 107,000 domestic workers in the country, with more than 90 per cent aged 50 and above, according to data from Statistics Korea. 
 
“There are many middle-aged women who are pushed into the labour market due to poverty, and at the same time, there is a large number of non-economically active people in that age group,” said Prof Lee. 
 
“At the age of 50 or 60, they do not need to take care of their children, so they could work full-time. If we turn these jobs into full-time positions, the labour force could potentially double.”
 
She noted that bringing in foreign workers is unlikely to solve South Korea’s demographic crisis. She pointed to Singapore and Hong Kong as examples, highlighting the birth rates in those economies are still among the world’s lowest despite their long reliance on foreign domestic workers.