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Subject   April 2017 - A System for Employment of Foreign Worker: Domestic Workers
A System for Employment of Foreign Worker: Domestic Workers

I. Introduction
Last month, the Chosun Ilbo, a daily newspaper in Korea, reported, “A babysitter becomes the superior of a working mother…Why not import babysitters from abroad?” The news article goes on to say, “It is so expensive to give birth and raise a child in Korea […]Babysitters are difficult to find. When fortunate enough to find a Korean Chinese babysitter, her minimum salary is KRW 1.7 million per month, while a Korean babysitter costs KRW 2.5 million at least […] Even Japan has decided to import foreign domestic workers in particular areas, such as Osaka.” The most noticeable point raised in the article is that most Singaporeans and citizens of Hong Kong have been using young foreign domestic workers in their homes costing the equivalent of as little as KRW 500,000 to KRW 800,000 per month for more than 40 years. However, the Korean government has not used this simple and easy way to help couples raising children, but instead has spent KRW 150 trillion over the past 10 years in other efforts to raise the nation’s low birthrate. Despite such efforts, this low birthrate has not risen, but has further decreased instead.
Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan have engaged inexpensive foreign domestic workers to take care of their children, aging parents and housekeeping, which has made it possible to increase women’s participation in employment and resolve their manpower deficits due to low birthrates and aging populations. Recently, public opinion has begun supporting the idea of bringing in foreign domestic workers, and the Ministry of Employment and Labor has recognized the need to do so in a report by an external research consulting firm in 2016. It is therefore expected that sooner or later Korea will make the necessary policy changes to allow foreign domestic workers to be brought into the country.
Herein I will look at domestic legal protections for and international guidelines on domestic workers, the foreign domestic worker (FDW) scheme in Singapore, and considerations when deciding to import foreign domestic workers into Korea.

< Comparison of Status for Domestic Workers, by Country>
        Korea        Singapore        Hong Kong
Total population        50,503,933        5,696,506        7,317,227
Per capita GDP (USD)        27,195        52,755        42,097
Labor
participation rate - women        52.1%        60.4%        54.8%
Foreign domestic workers (FDW)        201,973        237,100        340,000
(FDWs as percentage of total population)        0.4%        4.2%        4.7%
Monthly wages for FDWs (KRW)        1.7~3 million        450,000~650,000        From 639,210
* Sources: Government statistics agency for each country, as of 2016

II. Existing Legal Protections for Domestic Workers
1. Global standards
In 2011, the 100th General Assembly of the International Labour Organization (ILO) adopted the Convention Concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers and a Recommendation. The major content of the Convention includes regulation of domestic workers under national labor law as would be the case for other workers, such as reasonable working hours, 24 consecutive hours off a week, restrictions against payment in kind rather than cash, clear statements of working conditions, and freedom of association. As of May 20, 2014, the Convention has been ratified by 14 ILO member countries, most of whom are supplying domestic workers to other countries. Korea has not yet ratified the Convention, but legal enactment has been proposed by some lawmakers to conform to ILO standards, but no legislative action has been taken.

2. Korean domestic workers and application of labor law
(1) Reasons why domestic workers are excluded from labor laws
Here, ‘domestic worker’ refers to persons employed for the purpose of assisting with housekeeping duties (cooking, cleaning, nursing, childcare, etc.). Since the employer is not the business owner or workplace seeking business, but rather individuals or households, general labor laws do not apply to domestic workers. Article 11 of the Labor Standards Act explicitly excludes domestic workers from application: “This Labor Standards Act shall apply to all businesses or workplaces in which five or more workers are ordinarily employed. This Act, however, shall not apply to any business or workplace which employs only relatives living together, and to workers hired for domestic work.”
Domestic workers are not covered by labor law for primarily two reasons. First, relations between an employer and a domestic worker are considered private relations that do not fall under governmental authority. Caregivers are usually involved in care of a particular person and provide exclusive care, but if they work for a care-providing company and receive a wage in return for providing that care, they are considered someone to whom the labor law applies. Second, a domestic employer is not considered a business or workplace, because he/she does not employ a domestic worker to seek profit or accomplish a business purpose, but simply for convenience.
2) Necessity for protection
Domestic workers, as pointed out in the ILO report, do not receive protection against low salaries, abusively-long working hours, and the loss of rest hours, and sometimes suffer from mental, physical and sexual abuse, and have restrictions on their freedom of movement. Accordingly, considering the length of working hours while exclusively engaged with a particular family, it is necessary to protect their basic rights such as by mandating a minimum salary, maximum working hours, and guaranteed off-days.

III. The Foreign Domestic Workers Scheme in Singapore
1. Summary
In order to assist couples who both work outside the home, the Singaporean government introduced the Foreign Domestic Workers Scheme in 1978. Since Singaporean couples could hire domestic workers from an abundant labor pool in the neighboring countries of the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, and Myanmar for much less than hiring locally, the labor force participation rate of married Singaporean women has increased from 14.7 percent in 1970 to 60.4 percent in 2016. There are about 237,000 foreign domestic workers in Singapore, or 4.2 percent out of the total population of 5.61 million, who are employed by the majority of households. The Singaporean government has adopted a very expensive employment levy in order to restrict the overuse of foreign domestic workers. However, families that need domestic workers for one or more of the following reasons receive a significant discount: ① the family has a child or grandchild living with them who is a maximum 16 years of age; ② the family has an elderly family member living with them who is at least 65 years old; ③ the family has a person with disabilities living with them. In particular, in cases where the couple works outside, any collected employment levy will be refunded.
The two key elements for the success of Singapore’s foreign domestic worker scheme are its favorable external environment and thorough internal management. The external environment refers to the sufficient amount of manpower in the neighboring countries, who support their nationals going abroad to make money due to the low salaries and high unemployment rates in their own countries. Internally, the Singaporean government has a strict and thorough management system over foreign domestic workers.
2. Hiring and employment within the foreign domestic worker scheme
There are five stages in the procedures for employment.
(1) Stage 1: Getting ready & selection
① Employer attends orientation program
② Employer looks for a candidate at the licensed civilian employment agency. Employer should come to an agreement with domestic worker on employment terms (e.g. salary, rest days).
(2) Stage 2: Before the foreign domestic worker’s arrival in Singapore
③ Employer shall apply for a Work Permit from MOM (Ministry of Manpower). W

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