Compensation Benefits
Agencies propose $100 pay hike for Filipino migrant workers
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Updated on
Nearly 2 million Filipinos are expected to benefit from the proposal
An organisation of manpower agencies has proposed a $100 monthly pay increase for Filipino domestic helpers earlier this weekend. Under the Coalition of Domestic and Skilled Workers Inc., the agencies presented the proposal in a meeting with Migrant Workers Undersecretary Bernard Olalia and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Deputy Administrator Jasmine Gapatan.
If approved, the measure would raise the minimum monthly domestic worker salary to $500 from $400, which has remained unchanged since 2006. The group stressed that the pay hike is long overdue and can help workers and their families cope with rising costs of living both abroad and at home.
Despite increasing competition in Indonesia and Vietnam, Filipino domestic workers remain one of the world’s top sources of domestic workers. In particular, employers in the Middle East seek out Filipinos due to their high English proficiency, reliability, and exceptional work ethic. According to the coalition, the proposed wage increase would further reinforce Filipino labour's value around the world.
Several countries have recently implemented laws increasing the minimum wage of foreign workers. In 2024, Canada's British Columbia approved a 3.9% hourly wage increase for migrant workers from $16.75 to $17.40. Similarly, in 2023, thousands of Filipino workers in Taiwan received a 4% increase in the minimum monthly salary, while those in Hong Kong received a HK$140 raise. The Hong Kong government also passed a measure to increase the minimum food allowance for live-out domestic workers by HK$23 in 2022.
"Having our minimum wage and food allowances raised is a big deal," Marites Nuval, President of the La Union Federation of Hong Kong, told the Department of Migrant Workers in 2022. "We didn't have a pay increase for two years because of the pandemic and its effects on businesses and tourism."
In a 2023 survey by the Philippine Statistics Authority, there are an estimated 2 million Filipino workers abroad, of whom nearly 56% are women. Annually, an estimated 172,000 Filipino women leave the country to work as domestic helpers, with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait as the leading destinations.
Because of the high demand for overseas workers, the Philippines has also become a significant source of human trafficking. According to the Global Slavery Index, an estimated 859,000 Filipinos have been victims of human trafficking. In response, the Philippine government enacted the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act in 2003, which reinforced mechanisms protecting workers against trafficking.
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