A recent Philstar examination of China’s reported plan to offer legal status to Filipino household service workers （HSWs） has gained wide attention both inside and outside China. It quoted Philippine Labor Undersecretary Dominador Say in saying that Chinese officials are considering the possibility of deploying Filipino HSWs in China’s five major cities， including Beijing， Shanghai and Xiamen. Monthly pay for these workers could be as high as 100，000 Pesos （US$1，952）. Though not confirmed by the Chinese Government， the news immediately made ripples.

Already in China， Illegally

Entering the words “Filipino maid” into search engine Baidu leads to a dazzlingly-long list of domestic help staffing agencies. After I clicked on one of them randomly， a live chat window popped up， asking me if I was looking for domestic help. The website’s contact person explained that the Filipino HSWs they offer all have junior college degrees and demand a salary of about 7，000 yuan （US$1，050） per month. The agency charges a one-off fee of 20，000 yuan （US$3，000） and promises replacement of the HSW within one year if the customer is unhappy with the maid’s performance. Contracts last two years at most. Asked if these workers have legal status in China， the agency was unequivocal that as China is not yet open to foreign domestic help services， these Filipino HSWs mostly stay in China on tourist visas.

Filipino HSWs have a strong reputation for professionalism， high levels of education， deference and loyalty. This is why many agencies take the legal risk of bringing them to customers in the Chinese mainland. In fact， Philippine HSWs are in high demand around the world. It’s estimated that more than 7 million Filipinos are working as domestic helpers in 140-plus countries and regions worldwide， accounting for 7 percent of the country’s population. Their remittances contribute to the national economy significantly — amounting to 8.1 percent of Philippine GDP in 2016.

Chinese law currently prohibits the hiring of Filipino HSWs.

“Apart from relaxing certain regulations， so far the mainland has not opened its domestic help sector to Filipinos，” said Zhang Baoxia， secretary general of the Shanghai Home Service Industry Association. She said despite the restrictions， there are currently more than 200，000 Filipino HSWs working in the mainland， mostly illegally.

Policy Change

This March the China （Shanghai） Pilot Free Trade Zone granted a residence permit to Mary， a domestic helper hired by the president of a locally-based bio-pharmaceutical company. With this document， she can live in Shanghai for one year without needing to exit and reenter the country. It is the first such permit issued by the city to a foreign domestic worker since a new policy was introduced two years ago.

In 2015 Shanghai issued a rule that allows two types of foreign citizens working in the city to legally employ domestic workers from the Philippines. The first are high-caliber professionals with permanent Chinese residence permits， and the second are senior professionals working in science and technology sectors that are recognized by the municipal human resources and social security authorities and also hold five-year China residence permits.

At the end of 2016 the Ministry of Public Security rolled out a new decree in support of Shanghai’s efforts to build itself into a science and technology innovation center. It allows foreign citizens with permanent Chinese residence permits or work permits and high-value professionals from Hong Kong， Macao and Taiwan to hire foreign domestic helpers.

However， the change of law hasn’t resulted in an immediate surge in the number of Filipino HSWs in Chinese mainland due to stringent approval procedures， Zhang explained. Many industry insiders don’t expect a full opening in this field anytime soon with concerns of protecting local workers and the supervision and management of foreign helpers.

Local Helpers Have to Catch up

Before hiring the Filipino maid she currently employs， a woman in Shenzhen surnamed Wang hired a Chinese maid in her 40s with no professional training in cooking and cleaning. Wang was irritated to find out that the woman often gossiped with other maids working in her neighborhood， exchanging employers’ private information and comparing their earnings to negotiate with their employers for better benefits.

At the recommendation of a friend， Wang decided to take on a Filipino maid， and was impressed with her professionalism in the trial period.

“Cleaning the house seemed to me that it would take two or three days， but the Filipino worker put it into order in three hours，” Wang said. “She is obviously well trained， knowing how to best manage her time. The Filipinos are truly professional.”

What makes Wang even happier is that with the new maid， her child’s English has improved markedly.

China’s demand for domestic help is growing. A 2016 domestic health agency report claims that nearly 40 percent of urban Chinese families — numbering around 50 million — need domestic help， while China only has around 15 million people working in this particular field， leaving a wide gap. The demand will grow stronger as the Chinese population is aging and Chinese couples are now allowed to have two children. However， Chinese domestic workers lack professional training， which leads to underperformance. By comparison， well trained Filipino helpers are more welcome.

Miao Lu， secretary general of the Center for China and Globalization， said that the service quality and development level of the domestic household help industry so far cannot live up to the demand of the growing middle class in China. Imports of Filipino HSWs could have a positive effect on the sector as a whole， incentivizing relevant companies to provide better training for their workers to improve service. Cao Heping， a professor of economics at Peking University， agreed that allowing Filipino HSWs to work in China could invigorate the domestic sector and prompt it to develop in the right direction. But China， with an ample supply of domestic workers， sees no need of importing foreign laborers at present.