経済けいざい格差かくさを越こえて――香港ほんこんで働はたらく外国人がいこくじん家事かじ労働者ろうどうしゃたちの覚悟かくごと現実げんじつ

The YouTube channel TOMO’S TRAVEL / トモズトラベル has posted a video titled The Reason They Say Theyre Happy Even with an Hourly Wage of 400 Yen: The Hidden Reality of Foreign Domestic Workers.

This video shed light from multiple perspectives on the current situation faced by foreign domestic helpers FDH in Hong Kong, one of Asia’s leading financial cities.

At the beginning of the video, characteristic weekend scenes of Hong Kong are shown.

Many women can be seen gathering in parks and on the streets, spreading out sheets and resting. Many of them are domestic workers from the Philippines and Indonesia.

Currently, about 390,000 foreign workers are employed as domestic helpers in Hong Kong, making up around 5% of the population.

When asked why they left their families and hometowns to work in Hong Kong, all the women interviewed answered, To support my family and To earn money for my childrens school fees.

The minimum wage in Hong Kong is set at 5,100 Hong Kong dollars per month about 100,000 yen, while income in their hometown is only around 10,000 to 20,000 yen per month, so they can earn five to ten times as much.

Furthermore, compared to other countries such as Singapore, salaries in Hong Kong are higher and holidays are guaranteed, making it a very attractive labor market for foreign workers.

Behind this current situation lie the national policies of the Philippine and Indonesian governments, which are actively promoting the overseas dispatch of workers.

In the Philippines in particular, since there is no divorce system, even if a woman is forced to live separately due to her husbands infidelity or financial difficulties, she still has to raise her children alone.

If employment opportunities are limited domestically, working abroad can be a strategy to secure your familys future.

However, their lives are by no means easy.

They always have to face trouble with their employers, language barriers, and above all, the loneliness of living away from their families.

Still, they continue to hold on to dreams such as I want to run my own business or I want to live in my hometown with my family, overcoming difficult days together with smiles, and enjoying their only day off each week with friends from their hometown.

This video highlights the strength of family bonds and the complex social and economic backgrounds behind them, through the stories of women who live resiliently in the shadows of a glamorous city.