By Junex Doronio
MANILA — An estimated 500,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) stand to benefit from the recently approved orders hiking the minimum wages in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
This was announced on Wednesday (December 27) by the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW).
“We thank Taiwan’s Ministry of Labor and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Labor Department respectively for enacting wage legislation that recognizes the work of our OFWs and their contribution to the economic development of their host countries,” DMW officer-in-charge (OIC) Hans Leo Cacdac said.
The DMW said in a statement that the Taiwan Ministry of Labor (MOL) mandated a 4.05% increase in the monthly minimum salary from NT$26,400 (P46,378.70) to NT$27,470 (P48,223.43), effective January 1, 2024.
The wage order also hiked the minimum hourly wage by NT$7 from NT$168 (P295.14) to NT$183 (P321.48).
Citing MOL data as of October, the DMW disclosed that 151,562 Filipinos are working in Taiwan.
The agency also anticipated another 17,721 workers in the said category to be hired by the end of the year.
On the other hand, it was learned that OFWs working as foreign domestic helpers (FDH) or household service workers (HSWs) in Hong Kong will benefit from similar wage legislation set by Hong Kong’s Labor Department.
The DMW said OFWs working as FDHs will receive a minimum allowable wage (MAW) of HK$4,870 or P38,010.35, a HK$140 increase from the previous rate of HK$4,730 or P36,917.65.
Furthermore, the Hong Kong Labor Department also increased the allowable food allowance for FDHs to HK$1,236 or P9,649.98 from the previous rate of HK$1,196 or P9,334.78.
The DMW revealed that as of August 2023, there are 196,364 OFWs working as HSWs or FDHs in Hong Kong.
“Additionally, by January 2024, MWO-HK estimates there will be around 205,000 Filipino HSWs working in Hong Kong,” the agency added..
(IAmigo/MNM)
