Providing better working conditions and ensuring the welfare of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are some of the goals of the recent visit of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in Hong Kong. To make this a reality, PGMA ordered the secretary of the Department of labor and Employment (DOLE), Marianito Roque to conduct negotiations with the labor ministry of Hong Kong. The negotiation aims to increase the salary of OFWs in Hong Kong, particularly the domestic helpers.

The meeting between Roque and Matthew Cheung, Hong Kong's Permanent Secretary for Labor and Welfare resulted to a slight increase in the wages of household help from foreign countries. The said increase is expected to be announced and implemented in June of this year.

The labor secretary informed that the percent of wage increase are yet to be determined because Hong Kong authorities still need the statistical data on consumer price index, gross domestic product and other economic indicators. The needed data ere expected to be available by the end of-April.

The records of the Hong Kong Labor and Welfare Department showed that in 2007, there are 125,000 Filipino household workers in Hong Kong. This figure represents half of the household workers population. The remaining 50% are Indonesian workers.

President Arroyo also discussed to the OFWs in HK ways on how they can cope with the continued rise of the value of peso against the dollar by explaining to them the hedging facilities launched by the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).

The demand for foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong are not expected to decline because according to Roque, an estimate of 28,000 additional expatriate managers settle in Hong Kong every year, most of them needing the services of household help. As of this writing, domestic helpers in Hong Kong receive HK$ 3,480 a month.