DMW: OFWs to benefit from Taiwan, Hong Kong minimum wage hike By TED CORDERO, GMA Integrated News

The recently approved orders hiking the minimum wages in Taiwan and Hong Kong are set to benefit thousands of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said Wednesday. In a statement, the DMW said the Taiwan Ministry of Labor (MOL) mandated a 4.05% increase in the monthly minimum salary from NT$26,400 (P46,378.70) to NT$27,470 (P48,223.43), effective January 1, 2024. The wage order also hiked the minimum hourly wage by NT$7 from NT$168 (P295.14) to NT$183 (P321.48). The Migrant Workers Department said, citing MOL data as of October, that 151,562 Filipinos are working in Taiwan. Of the said number, 123,768 are working in the manufacturing sector and stand to benefit from the wage hike. The DMW, moreover, is projecting another 17,721 workers in the said category to be hired by the end of the year. “We thank Taiwan’s Ministry of Labor and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Labor Department respectively for enacting wage legislation that recognizes the work of our OFWs and their contribution to the economic development of their host countries,” said DMW officer-in-charge Hans Leo Cacdac. Meanwhile, the DMW said OFWs working as foreign domestic helpers (FDH) or household service workers (HSWs) in Hong Kong will benefit from similar wage legislation set by Hong Kong’s Labor Department. The agency said OFWs working as FDHs will receive a minimum allowable wage (MAW) of HK$4,870 or P38,010.35, a HK$140 increase from the previous rate of HK$4,730 or P36,917.65. The Hong Kong Labor Department also increased the allowable food allowance for FDHs to HK$1,236 or P9,649.98 from the previous rate of HK$1,196 or P9,334.78. These wage increases in Hong Kong shall be applicable only to FDH contracts signed on or after September 30, 2023, according to the DMW. Citing the Migrant Workers Office in Hongkong (MWO-HK), the Migrant Workers Department said that as of August 2023, there are 196,364 OFWs working as HSWs or FDHs in Hong Kong. “MWO-HK estimates some 40,000 HSWs representing new hires and those with renewed contracts will directly benefit from the new wage legislation,” it said. “Additionally, by January 2024, MWO-HK estimates there will be around 205,000 Filipino HSWs working in Hong Kong,” it added. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

POPCOM, gagamit ng ‘digital platforms’ para pagtibayin ang mga ugnayang pampamilya

Mas pinalalawig ng Komisyon sa Populasyon at Pagpapaunlad (POPCOM) ang adhikain nitong pagpapalaganap at pagpapabuti ng pakikipag-ugnayan ng mga nakakatandang Pilipino sa kanilang mga anak na nagdadalaga at nagbibinata. Nitong Setyembre 21, ang POPCOM ay nagsagawa ng isang “parent-teen talk webinar” gamit ang Zoom, kung saan ang isang “interactive program” ang nagbigay ng naaayon na kaalaman at kasanayan sa mga magulang, habang tumulong ito sa mga anak na teenager na maabot ang kanilang buong potensyal. Hinikayat din nito ang mga nanay at tatay na sumali sa malayang usapan, lalo na sa mga usapin ukol sa sex at sekswalidad, na nakikitang makakatulong upang bumaba ang mga bilang ng mga pagbubuntis sa hanay ng mga kabataan. Maaaring mapanood ang webinar sa https://youtu.be/lZ9jrJCjYas. Ayon kay Ikalawang Kalihim (Undersecretary) Juan Antonio A. Perez III, MD, MPH, “ang webinar ay naging isang tagapag-simula at ‘padaluyan’ ng pag-uu
Read more

UP Diliman Professors Share Scientists’ Procurement Struggles at Senate Hearing

By Harvey Sapigao Senate hearing of the revised procurement law (Photo credit: Senate of the Philippines) College of Science (CS) Dean Giovanni Tapang held up a little white device as he finished his presentation. “This is a ₱150,000 component,” he described. “Isa lang gumagawa nito sa buong mundo, pero ang hirap pilitin sila na magregister sa PhilGEPS,” he continued, referring to the requirement that foreign companies must first register to the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) before they can sell products to local scientists. Marine Science Institute (MSI) Deputy Director Dr. Irene Rodriguez explained that the small device is a resin that filters metals in water. “May budget tayo,” she said, “pero ang problema ko ay ‘yung resin na ito.” This and other bottlenecks brought about by the procurement law, or the Government Procurement Reform Act (RA 9184), slow down research and development in the country. UPD leaders were invited to the Senate he
Read more

Gaza war rages into fourth month as Blinken tours Middle East Adel Zaanoun with Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem, --- Agence France-Presse

The Israel-Hamas war raging in Gaza entered its fourth month on Sunday as the army again pounded the besieged Palestinian territory and US top diplomat Antony Blinken was back in the region seeking to avoid a wider escalation. Israeli airstrikes overnight and early Sunday killed at least 64 people in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory, said its health ministry. It said two journalists were killed when their car was struck. The ministry, medics, and witnesses identified them as Mustafa Thuria, a video stringer for Agence France-Presse, and Hamza Wael Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera's bureau chief in Gaza who earlier lost his wife and two other children in an Israeli strike. Israeli bombardment also claimed other civilian lives in the southern city of Khan Yunis and in the Rafah area near the Egyptian border, where many of the territory's displaced people have sought refuge, AFP correspondents reported. Relatives were mourning the dead at Khan Yunis' European Hospital, am
Read more