The minimum wage of foreign domestic workers, including overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong, has raised from HK$80 dollars a month to HK$3,400 which is approximately US$439, is effective on May 31, 2006.

Sto. Tomas cited a report from Philippine Labor Attache to Hong Kong Bernardino D. Julve, she said that the amendment for wage hike took into consideration a basket of economic and employment indicators as part of the wage review started by the Hong Kong Labor Department in November.

Prior to the latest wage increase in Hong Kong, it was only in 2005 when a HK$50 adjustment on the minimum wage for foreign domestic helpers was approved by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (HK-SARG).

“We believe that the salary [resulting from the latest increase in HK] is now the highest for household workers in Asian and Middle Eastern economies,” Julve said in the report.

Granting of latest wage hike signifies Hong Kong’s vibrant economic recovery and investments growth and that the OFWs and the overseas workers community play a vital role.