Cost of Filipino maids in Malaysia doubles -- report

Agence France-PresseLast updated 06:43pm (Mla time) 12/10/2006

KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysian employers looking to hire domestic help from the Philippines will have to pay twice the usual salary starting December 15, the Star daily reported on Sunday.

The cost for a Filipino maid will rise to 1,430 ringgit ($500 dollars) a month, double the old rate and three times more than their Indonesian counterparts, prompting a sharp rebuke from employment agencies.

The Star reported the minimum monthly wage was set by the Philippines Overseas Labor Office, POLO, which has also set a minimum age of 25 years for maids working in Malaysia.
Malaysian employment agencies have complained that the new wages were too steep from the previous 715 ringgit.

"The 100 percent increase is too high and unrealistic," one agency told the Star.
The newspaper said there were some 20,000 Filipino maids in Malaysia with about 30 employment agencies involved recruiting them.
Josephus B. Jimenez, the Philippine Embassy labor attaché to Malaysia said Filipino household workers now had to attend and complete an orientation course on work policies and their responsibilities, the Star said.

"Any increase should be based on the performance of the maid. They (POLO) just cannot arbitrarily fix a rate and expect every employer to follow it," Mona Lee, a maid agency owner was quoted as saying by the paper.

Lee said most agencies and employers were rejecting the increase and said that the unnecessary increase would encourage maids from the Philippines to enter the country illegally.
There are some 350,000 foreign maids in Malaysia, 95 percent of whom are Indonesians.
While Indonesians are less expensive, Filipino maids are often valued for their ability to converse in English.