Filipino nannies set to arrive in Seoul on Tuesday as trial caregiver program begins

Social Affairs

Filipino nannies set to arrive in Seoul on Tuesday as trial caregiver program begins

Published: 05 Aug. 2024, 17:47 Updated: 05 Aug. 2024, 19:31

CHO JUNG-WOO
cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr

Children practice CPR during a training session at a daycare in Buk District, Gwangju, on July 3. [BUK DISTRICT OFFICE]

Filipino nannies who will be working in households in Seoul starting next month are set to arrive in Korea on Tuesday.

The 100 incoming caregivers will undergo a monthlong training session totaling 160 hours, including the three-day training required for those entering the country under the E-9 nonskilled workers visa, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said Monday.

The training will include sessions on health and safety, basic legal education, sexual harassment education, caregiving and babysitting, and Korean and cultural education.

Seoul to accept applications for Filipino nannies amid caregiver shortage

Applications for households wishing to hire these caregivers were open from July 17 via two mobile applications run by service providers Homesaeng and Hbriz. The application will close on Tuesday.

As of 5 p.m. Thursday, 422 households applied for the pilot project, according to the city government.

Selection priority will be given to single-parent families, households with at least three children, working parents and households with pregnant mothers, in that order. Other factors, such as the children's ages and the expected hiring period, will also be considered.

Households can hire workers for four, six or eight hours a day between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. on weekdays.

The hired caregivers will start working from Sept. 3 through late February. They will be matched with households this month.

A rendered image of a double room, left, and a photo of a single room at a dormitory in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, for foreign domestic workers, provided by the city government on Monday. [SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT]

Unlike in other cities like Hong Kong, where nannies live in the houses where they work, the 100 Filipino nannies will live in a separate dormitory about a five-minute walk from Yeoksam Station in Gangnam District, southern Seoul.

They will stay in either single or double rooms at the dormitory from August through February. The accommodations, selected by the service providers, will exclusively house the 100 caregivers. The training will also take place near the dormitory.

Nannies will be protected by the country's 52-hour maximum workweek and will be guaranteed the minimum wage of 9,860 won ($7.1), along with four major social insurances.

“The city government has been exerting every effort to prepare for the project, inspecting the dormitory and overseeing the training sessions and the process for foreigner registration, given that Seoul is the first locality in Korea to pilot the foreign domestic worker scheme,” said Kim Sun-soon, head of the city government’s Women and Family Policy Affairs Office.

“We will ensure the Filipino caregivers adapt well to Seoul and provide satisfying caregiving services to households.”

The pilot project, launched by the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Seoul city government, aims to address the shortage of caregivers and the high cost of child care in the country. The scheme is the first of its kind in the country.

The Labor Ministry also said that they will set up a system with the city government to receive complaints regarding the service from both households and domestic workers.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]