Bill proposed in Korea to hire nannies from Southeast Asia

A worker from the Philippines reads a book to a child in Singapore. [Photo by a reader]

A proposal to open the Korean nanny market to foreign workers as a way to address the country’s chronic low birth rate has become a hot controversial topic. The controversy was sparked by a bill to amend the Domestic Workers Act introduced by Representative Cho Jung-hun of the minor opposition Transition Korea.

The amendment would allow foreigners, especially from Southeast Asian countries, to work in the domestic worker occupation and remove the minimum wage for them for a temporary period of five years. The country’s nanny market is only open to F-4 visa holders, or ethnic Koreans in China.

The amendment would facilitate Korean families to hire foreign domestic helpers affordably, for example, in the 1 million won ($750) range per month. The government also plans to launch a pilot project to open the local nanny market within this year.

According to major recruitment websites in Korea, the cost of hiring a commuting nanny is in the high 2 million won range. Live-in nannies or caretakers can cost up to 4 million won.

Hong Kong, Singapore and other countries have exempted domestic helpers from the minimum wage rule, allowing their citizens to freely bring in workers from the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries.

While it is pointed out that the amendment to the Domestic Workers Act runs counter to the Labor Standards Act, which prohibits wage discrimination based on nationality, proponents say there are exceptions, citing the example of the Seafarer’s Act, which exempts sailors working on South Korean ships from the minimum wage rule.