Foreign caregiver program pits capital against Labor Ministry over cutting wages

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Foreign caregiver program pits capital against Labor Ministry over cutting wages

Published: 17 Jun. 2025, 18:38 Updated: 17 Jun. 2025, 18:50

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Jasmine Erika, a foreign caregiver, speaks about the challenges of the program and offers suggestions at the 2025 Foreign Caregiver Roundtable held at KT&G Sangsang Planet in eastern Seoul on June 17. [NEWS1]

Seoul’s pilot program for foreign caregivers has sparked a policy dispute with the central government, as the city pushes to lower labor costs to ease child care burdens, while the Ministry of Employment and Labor insists on upholding equal wage protections.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government on Tuesday held a roundtable at KT&G Sangsang Planet in eastern Seoul, bringing together stakeholders involved in the program.

The initiative, launched on a trial basis in September 2024 and led by Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, aims to support dual-income, single-parent and multi-child households by allowing the employment of foreign caregivers under the E-9 visa system.

Several participants, including caregivers and service providers, expressed general satisfaction with life in Seoul.

A domestic caregiver from the Philippines said she initially worried about the one-hour commute to her assigned home but found Seoul’s public transportation system convenient.

Another caregiver, Jasmine Erika, noted that her Korean is not great, but she communicates with the kids and family members in English and everyone has been nice to her.

Some foreign caregivers, however, raised concerns about occasional language barriers and discriminatory treatment from certain employers.

“We need both institutional reform and greater public support to improve the system,” said Lee Bong-jae, co-CEO of Home Story Life.

One of the program’s goals is to ease the burden of child care costs by making domestic help more affordable and, in turn, address Korea’s low birthrate.

Kim Sun-soon, director general of Seoul’s Women and Family Policy Office, delivers opening remarks at the 2025 Foreign Caregiver Roundtable held at KT&G Sangsang Planet in eastern Seoul on June 17. [NEWS1]

But applying the national minimum wage to foreign caregivers has led to criticism that the program has not succeeded in lowering household expenses.

Currently, families pay 16,800 won ($12) per hour to hire a foreign caregiver. For households using the service four hours a day, five days a week, this amounts to a monthly cost of 1.46 million won.

To address this, the Seoul Metropolitan Government has proposed exempting foreign caregivers from the national minimum wage, which is set to rise to 10,030 won per hour in 2025.

"One of the government’s policies provides child care subsidies for low-income families," said Kim Sun-soon, director general of Seoul’s Women and Family Policy Office. "If those same families can receive support when hiring foreign caregivers, there would be no issue at all."

The central government, however, maintains a firm stance. It argues that paying foreign caregivers less than their Korean counterparts would violate both the Labor Standards Act and International Labour Organization conventions, which prohibit wage discrimination based on nationality.

“If we don’t resolve the issue of how to ease the burden of care costs, it will be difficult to move forward with the full-scale program,” said Han Eun-sook, the director of foreign workforce policy at the Ministry of Employment and Labor. “Since minimum wage and labor laws apply equally, it’s hard to fully achieve the program’s original goal of reducing care-related expenses."

The city had initially planned to decide in the first half of this year whether to transition from the pilot phase to a full program.

But with ongoing disagreements with the central government, it has postponed the decision. For now, Seoul has decided to extend the pilot for another year.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY MOON HEE-CHUL [[email protected]]