Seoul to accept applications for Filipino nannies amid caregiver shortage

As a pilot project to address the shortage of caregivers and the high cost of child care, 100 Filipino domestic workers will begin working in Seoul from early September through late February.

Babies crawl to their parents at the Daegu Baby and Kids Fair held in Buk District, Dageu, on March 7. [NEWS1]

Households in Seoul can apply to hire Filipino nannies starting Wednesday.

As a pilot project to address the shortage of caregivers and the high cost of child care, 100 Filipino domestic workers will begin working in Seoul from early September through late February. The foreign nannies will enter the country under the E-9 nonskilled workers visa.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said households with a child aged 12 or younger or expecting a baby are eligible to apply for the program regardless of income status.

Applications will be accepted from Wednesday through Aug. 6 through two mobile applications, each run by service providers Homesaeng and Hubriz.

Selection priority will be given to single-parent families, households with at least three children, working parents and households with pregnant mothers, in that order. Other factors, such as the children’s age and the expected duration of the scheme, will also be considered.

Households can hire workers for four, six and eight hours a day between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. on weekdays. Nannies will be protected by the country’s 52-hour maximum workweek.

The 100 Filipino nannies, who have been attending a 45-hour training session in the Philippines since Monday, will arrive in Korea in August for a month-long training session. The domestic workers, between 24 and 38 years of age, hold the Caregiving National Certification Level II, certified by the Philippine government. Selection criteria included language proficiency in English and Korean, health exams and criminal record checks.

Hiring these incoming nannies for four hours daily will cost around 1.19 million won ($859). The monthly payment is based on Korea’s minimum wage of 9,860 won and also includes the cost of four major social insurances.

That is about 9 percent cheaper than the 1.31 million won per month for child care services run by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and about 21 percent cheaper than hiring a domestic worker through private companies, which costs around 1.52 million won per month.

However, households must pay over two million won per month if the workers are hired full-time for eight hours a day, more than double the salaries paid in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon had earlier noted that the salary is higher than expected due to legal constraints in Korea and that the city will continuously engage in discussions with related authorities regarding the issue.

An official at the Ministry of Employment and Labor reportedly said that various benefits, such as vouchers, will be provided to applicants to reduce the financial burden of hiring these domestic workers when the project officially begins.

The foreign domestic worker scheme, the first of its kind in the country, comes as the number of caregivers in Korea has declined in recent years. According to Statistics Korea, the number of domestic workers in Korea dropped by 51,000 over the past four years.

The scheme also comes as mothers struggle to balance work and child care. A survey conducted by the Korean Women’s Development Institute in 2023 found that 42 percent of married women left their jobs because of child care responsibilities.

Separately, the Ministry of Justice is preparing a pilot project to allow foreign residents who are already living in Korea to offer child care services. The project, set to begin as early as September, would not apply the minimum wage rate, as households will hire the workers directly.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]