Best – and worst – paying districts for domestic helpers revealed in survey

Domestic helpers dancing during a day off in Central. Photo (for illustration): Myriam Tsen-Kung/Coconuts Media
Domestic helpers dancing during a day off in Central. Photo (for illustration): Myriam Tsen-Kung/Coconuts Media

A recently released survey has detailed where the city’s most generous — and stingiest — domestic helper employers are concentrated.

The report, which was compiled by HelperChoice, a free job listing site for domestic workers and employers, shows encouraging signs that more and more helpers are being paid above the minimum wage.

HelperChoice crunched the data from over 3,000 job listings placed on their site between January and August, of which 59 percent were posted by local Hongkongers and 41 percent by expats.

Photo: HelperChoice

Based on this information, the mean salary for foreign domestic helpers across the territory is HK$4545, which is HK$235 more than the government-mandated Minimum Allowable Wage (MAW) of HK$4,310, and 23 percent higher than last year’s average salary.

Interestingly, while the top offer was a HK$10,000 position in Happy Valley, the district failed to crack into the best-paying five areas overall.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, maids make the most in Sheung Wan, a.k.a. Gentrification Central, netting an average of HK$5,195 per month, closely followed by HK$5,185 on Lantau Island (holla, Discovery Bay). Last year’s highest-paying area, Stanley, has been bumped down to third place, while the swanky and exclusive Victoria Peak has dropped from second to 12th place in one fell swoop.

Conversely, helpers working in eastern Hong Kong Island, parts of Kowloon, and Sheung Shui, are the lowest earners. Jobs advertised in Siu Sai Wan fared the worst, averaging only HK$4,315, followed by Diamond Hill and Shau Kei Wan with HK$4,343, and HK$4,337, respectively.

HelperChoice noted that high-paying listings correlate with more specialized skills, such as driving or elder care, or simply more experience. The government is set to perform an annual review on the MAW at the end of the month. For the last three years, the Labour Department has increased the minimum wage for foreign domestic helpers by HK$100 following “careful consideration” of Hong Kong’s “general economic and labor market situations”.



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