Hong Kong set to begin importing hundreds of carers from second half of 2027

Hong Kong will begin importing hundreds of foreign domestic carers as early as the second half of 2027 under a new pilot scheme, with their pay up to 20 per cent higher than that of domestic helpers, the city’s labour minister has said.

Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han said on Sunday that the carers would be equipped with both specialised elderly care skills and general domestic capabilities, and would first need to complete a 150-hour course in their home country.

“We now need to find a professional organisation in Hong Kong for a mechanism to ensure they finish the course and are truly equipped with those skills, because I understand that in the pilot scheme, residents will be concerned whether the workers can perform their tasks,” Sun said on a television programme.

The pilot scheme was expected to start in the second half of next year, he added.

Hong Kong currently has around 380,000 foreign domestic helpers, mainly from the Philippines and Indonesia, who carry out general housework duties in their employers’ homes.

The Social Welfare Department has sponsored around 1,000 of these workers to undertake a 10-hour course to learn first aid and basic elderly care.

Sun said the intended specialised carers would complete a course that would be similar to existing training for professional carers, to equip them with more advanced skills.

The course would be designed and accredited by authorised professional bodies in the industry that are recognised by the government.

Sun added that these carers would still be expected to take on housework duties and would be paid 10 to 20 per cent more than their generalist counterparts. Their pay scale mechanism would also be similar to that of foreign domestic helpers.

The government announced on Friday that the minimum wage for domestic workers would rise by 2.35 per cent to HK$5,220 (US$670) per month, with the new rate applying to all contracts signed on or after Saturday.

Employers would have to provide free food to their helpers or pay a food allowance of HK$1,236 a month.

Separately, Sun said authorities would consider a new model of publicly built care homes for the elderly that would be run by private operators.

“If the community is mainly low income, we will still mainly provide subsidised services. If the community is middle class, then we think we can provide more options for the market,” he said on the same programme.

According to official statistics, 1.98 million people, or 26 per cent of the population, are aged 65 or above. The figure is projected to rise to 36 per cent of the population by 2046, or 2.95 million people.

Stress has also emerged as a concern in recent years, as murder-suicide tragedies involving elderly carers and family members have made headlines.

In June, Sun commented on a case in which a 70-year-old man was found hanging in his Kwai Chung flat, while his 78-year-old wife was discovered unconscious there and later pronounced dead, calling it a tragedy.

A survey by the NGO Suicide Prevention Services last year found that 37 per cent of 942 carers polled reported a high level of stress.