Workers from the Philippines will be able to continue working under the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s child care and housekeeping pilot program, the city announced Wednesday, but families will be charged more for their services starting in March.
The pay raise comes as the six-month pilot program, which began last September, wrapped up its first trial phase in February. The program, the first of its kind backed by the city government and the Labor Ministry, enabled families with children to hire Filipina nannies as an alternative to local workers.
The city government said it would extend the pilot program to three years. In the second trial phase, 89 foreign caregivers will continue to provide their services, the city added.
The city said the families will have to pay 16,800 won ($11.60) per hour to employ the caregivers, which works out at approximately 2.92 million won per month for a 40-hour week. That is an increase of approximately 500,000 won from the first phase.
Compensation for the foreign nannies sparked intense debate after Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon proposed a monthly fee of approximately 1 million won to ease the financial burden on Korean families, with this enabled by paying the workers below the minimum wage.
The proposal faced criticism from labor groups for failing to meet both national and international labor standards.
sj_lee@heraldcorp.com
