Half of Filipino housekeepers live in two homes a day
It takes up to 1 hour and 35 minutes to travel, but the resting place is the library.
“There is a need to diagnose and improve working conditions”
While there continues to be noise about the ‘foreign housekeeper project’ promoted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Ministry of Employment and Labor, half of housekeepers are found to be traveling long hours to work in two homes a day. In addition, it has been revealed that general public facilities such as libraries and museums have been assigned as shelters for these people, so it is pointed out that there is an urgent need to improve the system.
Philippine housekeeper. Yonhap News
According to the National Assembly audit data submitted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government on the 15th by Han Byeong-do, a member of the National Assembly Public Administration and Security Committee and member of the Democratic Party of Korea, 47 out of 98 Filipino housekeepers, or half, were traveling long hours to work in two homes a day.
As a result of measuring the travel distance between workplaces of 47 housekeeping managers in the shortest possible time using the ‘Naver Map Public Transportation Directions’ service, it was confirmed that 12 people spent more than an hour traveling to their workplaces.
The longest travel time was 95 minutes between Geoyeo-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul and Susaek-dong, Eunpyeong-gu, followed by 88 minutes (Naebalsan-dong, Gangseo-gu – Godeok-dong, Gangdeok-gu), 81 minutes (Sinwol-dong, Yangcheon-gu – Samseong-ro, Gangnam-gu), and 78 minutes (Numbusunhwan-ro, Seocho-gu – Changdong, Dobong-gu). And so on.
Of the 47 people, 28 spent about an hour traveling between work locations, and only 7 people spent less than 30 minutes traveling between work locations.
It appears that high wages played a role in their ability to move between two homes a day. The wage of housekeepers in the Philippines is around 2.06 million won per month, based on this year’s minimum wage, based on full-time work of 8 hours a day. The amount paid by the user household is 2.38 million won. As it was close to half of the median income of households in their 30s (5.09 million won), it was pointed out that it was too expensive, and in fact, about 40% of the households that initially applied were concentrated in the 3 districts of Gangnam.
In a phone call with Segye Ilbo, a lawmaker’s office explained, “There were quite a few families who originally applied for full-time use of the 8-hour system, but changed the time to only use it part-time due to the burden of costs.” According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the main reasons for cancellation for families who canceled the housekeeper service after the start of the service were a change of mind or difficulty in adjusting the time. Accordingly, most housekeepers were working part-time for an average of 2 hours (600,000 won per month) to 4 hours (1.19 million won per month) per day, and in some cases, they had to take care of as many as four children at once.
There has been criticism that shelters for housekeepers are also ineffective. According to the status of facilities available to foreign housekeepers, the rest areas provided by the city were libraries, museums, and art galleries located in 25 autonomous districts. Public facilities such as the War Memorial of Korea, the Bank of Korea Currency Museum, and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art were designated as rest areas.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon. Yonhap News
Representative Han Byeong-do said, “Even though Filipino housekeepers have to travel for long periods of time, the city of Seoul informs them that places such as libraries, museums, art galleries, and cultural and sports centers are places of rest for them.” He added, “This is proof that the project is being carried out hastily and without sufficient preparation. “It is,” he pointed out.
He continued, “Despite the need for an accurate diagnosis of the working conditions of housekeepers and the need for effective measures to improve the problem, the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Ministry of Employment and Labor are showing an irresponsible attitude of passing responsibility to each other, which is even more problematic,” Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said. “As this project was first proposed and the Seoul Metropolitan Government is also participating as an operator of this project, we must make efforts to resolve the problem responsibly,” he emphasized.
The foreign housekeeper project began serving 142 households on the 3rd of last month. As of the end of last month, 24 households had stopped using it, but 51 new households were added, and 169 households are currently using it.
Previously, 100 housekeeping managers who entered the country from the Philippines last August received 160 hours of specialized training over 4 weeks and were deployed to the field. However, controversy arose as the education allowance, which should have been paid on the first pay day, was not paid on time, and two housekeepers were arrested and forced to leave the country after leaving the lodging without permission.
Based on the evaluation of this pilot project, the government plans to promote this project with a target of 1,200 people by the first half of next year. However, as problems large and small emerged one after another from the beginning of the pilot project, the labor community is demanding a full review of related policies, saying, “This is an expected side effect of hasty administration.”
Reporter Kook Yun-jin soup@segye.com
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