S$1 a month lures hundreds of
maids
South China Morning Post. October
21, 1998.
ASSOCIATED PRESS in Singapore
HUNDREDS of Indonesian women are working for just one Singapore
dollar a month as domestic servants to escape poverty at home.
Tough economic times have increased the supply of imported maids in the rich island state, prompting local maid agencies to cut already low rates to a symbolic fee.
About 100,000 maids work up to 90 hours a week in often gruelling conditions and earn an average of S$250 a month. Most are from the Philippines, whose government recently declared it would not let them travel to work in Singapore for less than S$350.
But in April Singapore's Delijoy Employment Agency began offering Indonesian maids at a dollar a month for the first five months, after which their salary should increase to S$230. The agency receives a finder's fee.
"For us employers, we have nothing much to lose if we send the maid back or when she runs away," said Leong Yoke Yeng, a businesswoman who just hired an Indonesian maid from Delijoy.
"Anyway, she doesn't really need money. Everything she needs she can get at home, or I will pay."
Published in the South China Morning Post. October 21, 1998