Salaries of Filipino household service workers are likely to shoot up as UAE residents will have to compete to hire one.

The reason for the salary hike is that the Philippines is working on reducing the number of domestic workers as the focus shifts to sending on skilled workers mostly to work in the hospitality and wellness sector, a top official from the Philippine Consulate in Dubai told ''Emirates24|7'.

“The number of application for domestic workers that we approved in the last four months (November 2012 to February 2013) has dropped by 35 per cent. We are focusing more on sending skilled manpower mainly for the wellness and hospitality sector,” Philippine Labour Attache Delmer R Cruz said.

He said major UAE-based hospitality companies had approached the Consulate to hire skilled workers.

In terms of salary violations, Cruz said it had come down drastically as companies and employers were adhering to the $400 or Dh1,500 minimum salary for Filipino household service workers (HSWs) set by the Philippine government in 2007.

“We find more and more people respecting the regulations put in place by our government to protect our domestic workers. However, there are some Filipinos who don’t follow the normal procedure to work overseas and then come to us for assistance.”

In 2007, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration has issued governing board resolution on Household Service Workers Reform Package, which later was signed into a law by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The move was aimed to promote and protect the welfare of migrant workers, particularly HSWs, their families and overseas Filipinos in distress.

Agreements have been signed with placement agencies in the UAE to properly select employers who have no existing criminal records and unsettled complaints at the Polo Dubai. Other conditions to be met by employers are that they must be financially capable, provide maids with three meals a day, eight hours of uninterrupted sleep, decent sleeping quarters and grant them right to own and use a mobile phone.

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