The SUN HK : Nearly 5k FDHs lose jobs in wake of 21-day quarantine, 14-day rule

By Vir B. Lumicao

2,621 Filipino DHs lost their jobs in January

Hong Kong’s foreign domestic helper population fell by about 4,800 in the first month of the year, obviously due to the extension of the quarantine period for arriving travelers to 21 days, and a return to the 14-day rule for terminated workers.

Immigration statistics show that Filipinos, who make up the biggest group of FDHs, lost a total of 2,621 of their members in January. Their numbers dipped from 207,402 by the end of December last year to 204,781 by end-January

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Indonesian helpers saw their headcount drop by 2,098 to 155,704 last month, from 157,802 as of Dec 31 last year.

The population count for each ethnic group has dropped by about 15,000 since January last year.

The Philippines and Indonesia are the two largest suppliers of FDH to Hong Kong and the visa tightening by Immigration accounted for a combined drop of 4,769 in the number of their workers in the city by the end of last month.

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A Filipino community leader expressed concern over the drop and its likely impact on the affected workers’ families, especially for those who have spent much to come here but are not deployed because of pandemic-related reasons like Hong Kong’s 21-day quarantine.

“The drop in the number of arriving workers is worrying in a sense that more families in the Philippines will suffer from poverty because the workers have lost their chance of working here to earn for their families,” said Dolores Balladares, chair of United Filipinos in Hong Kong, or Unifil.

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She said that is the result of the 21-day Hong Kong quarantine and the Philippines’ indecisiveness in resolving issues such as how to provide jobs to OFWs who have been displaced by the pandemic.

Balladares said Hong Kong’s return to the 14-day rule due to the “job-hopping myth” is also a blow to the workers who are forced to look for new employers because they are fired or maltreated by their current employers.

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She said Hong Kong labor law allows either party to terminate the work contract, but the government is now saying if a worker terminates her contract, she must go home. But it does not penalize an employer who fires a worker at will, Balladares said.

Hundreds of stranded Filipino DHs were sent off at HK Airport by Consulate staff

Immigration relaxed its 14-day rule for FDHs in March last year when travel restrictions to contain the pandemic left tens of thousands of helpers unable to return to Hong Kong, leaving employers desperate for their services.

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The relaxation enabled thousands of stranded or terminated workers to remain in the city to look for employers on one-month visa extension each time.

But the government announced on Dec 30 it was reverting to the 14-day rule to prevent overcrowding in boarding houses by migrant workers who are waiting to move in with their new employers, or are looking for new ones.

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The policy reversal also appears to be in response to pressure from a few legislators who are ranting against migrants packing boarding houses and lolling about on closed streets, sidewalks, bridges and parks on Sundays, saying they are potential virus carriers.

Thomas Chan, a Hong Kong employment agency sector leader, said the 21-day quarantine period is discouraging the deployment of workers because employers are burdened by the high cost of putting up arriving workers in a hotel during the period.

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Chan, chairman of the Hong Kong Union of Employment Agencies, said agencies in the

Philippines, meanwhile, are gradually shifting the cost of training helpers to Hong Kong, thus raising employers’ cost of hiring workers overseas and forcing them to focus on the local market.

He said Immigration’s restriction on visa extension added to the decline in FDH numbers.

Chan also cited the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration’s bureaucratic controls over the issuance of OEC and other deployment documents as discouraging employers from hiring workers from the Philippines.

“In some cases, even if Hong Kong already issued the visa 3 months ago, the deployment paper in Manila is not yet ready,” he said.

Foreign Domestic Helpers Population in Hong Kong, 2020
At end of Month/Year	Philippines	Indonesia	India	Other nationalities	Total -- all nationalities
Jan-20	219,728	170,898	4,838	4,657	400,121
Feb-20	217,654	171,291	4,857	4,619	398,421
Mar-20	218,002	170,318	4,818	4,594	397,732
Apr-20	215,061	167,747	4,723	4,493	392,024
May-20	212,855	165,377	4,664	4,446	387,342
Jun-20	211,426	164,528		9,052	385,006
Jul-20	209 512	161 762	4 522	4 379	380 175
Aug-20	204 023	157 337	4 360	4 245	369 965
Sep-20	206,395	157,873	4,353	4,248	372,869
Oct-20	208,143	158,551	4,392	4,290	375,376
Nov-20	208,677	158,614	4,418	4,279	375,988
Dec-20	207,402	157,802	4,406	4,274	373,884


Foreign Domestic Helpers Population in Hong Kong, 2021
At end of Month/Year	Philippines	Indonesia	India	Other nationalities	Total -- all nationalities
Jan-21	204,781	155,704	4,393	4,237	369,115