Deployment of household service workers to Beijing still under study

Not so fast.  Even with Beijing opening its doors to more foreign household service workers (HSW), the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said it may take some time before Filipino HSWs could be deployed to the Chinese metropolis.

It was reported on Tuesday the Chinese government is now considering making Beijing the second Chinese mainland city, after Shanghai, where foreign executives will be allowed to hire expats as HSWs.

Bernard Olalia, labor undersecretary and POEA officer in charge administrator, said they would still have to study the new policy to ensure Filipino HSWs will be protected if they work in Beijing.

He said a technical working group will be formed to assess the matter.

“We would first get the opinion of our labor attachés about the market situation there. We would also have to conduct [stakeholder] consultations. This is to avoid any possible welfare cases there,” Olalia said.

Currently, Olalia pointed out, China remains a restricted market for Filipino HSWs, since Chinese laws prohibits Chinese nationals from employing foreigner.

He said only rich expatriates in China are exempted from the said regulation.

“There should be a legislative action on their part before we could deploy Filipino HSWs there,” Olalia said.

Last year the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said it is exploring the deployment of additional overseas Filipino workers (OFW), particularly HSWs, to mainland China, since they will be paid relatively well there compared to other destination-countries.

The DOLE, however, is yet to sign any new bilateral agreement with its Chinese counterpart to facilitate such deployment. Based from the POEA’s latest data, most of the country’s deployed OFWs abroad are HSWs.

Their top 3 destinations include the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Hong Kong, an autonomous region of China.

Not so fast.  Even with Beijing opening its doors to more foreign household service workers (HSW), the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said it may take some time before Filipino HSWs could be deployed to the Chinese metropolis.

It was reported on Tuesday the Chinese government is now considering making Beijing the second Chinese mainland city, after Shanghai, where foreign executives will be allowed to hire expats as HSWs.

Bernard Olalia, labor undersecretary and POEA officer in charge administrator, said they would still have to study the new policy to ensure Filipino HSWs will be protected if they work in Beijing.

He said a technical working group will be formed to assess the matter.

“We would first get the opinion of our labor attachés about the market situation there. We would also have to conduct [stakeholder] consultations. This is to avoid any possible welfare cases there,” Olalia said.

Currently, Olalia pointed out, China remains a restricted market for Filipino HSWs, since Chinese laws prohibits Chinese nationals from employing foreigner.

He said only rich expatriates in China are exempted from the said regulation.

“There should be a legislative action on their part before we could deploy Filipino HSWs there,” Olalia said.

Last year the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said it is exploring the deployment of additional overseas Filipino workers (OFW), particularly HSWs, to mainland China, since they will be paid relatively well there compared to other destination-countries.

The DOLE, however, is yet to sign any new bilateral agreement with its Chinese counterpart to facilitate such deployment. Based from the POEA’s latest data, most of the country’s deployed OFWs abroad are HSWs.

Their top 3 destinations include the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Hong Kong, an autonomous region of China.

Source: https://businessmirror.com.ph/deployment-of-house-helps-to-beijing-still-under-study/