Taking Care of Elderly Parents or Children: How Are They Related to the Decision to Hire Foreign Domestic Helpers?

Abstract

Hiring foreign domestic helpers has been seen as a policy to release females from household responsibilities so they can join the labor market. Surprisingly, few studies explore the relative importance of needs to taking care children and elderly. Employing the 2016 Hong Kong census, we found that the number of elderly persons and the number of young children in the household are positively associated with the decision to hire foreign domestic helpers. Our analysis also demonstrates that members are more likely to choose to work and outsource the care of young children to foreign domestic helpers. However, the findings show that households are more likely to take care of elderly without helpers even when household members are employed. Household members may co-ordinate and allocate time to take care of their elderly instead of outsourcing the care to a foreign domestic helper.

Keywords

elderly children Hong Kong foreign domestic helpers hiring decision

Introduction

Over the past few decades, hiring foreign domestic helpers has become a global phenomenon. They are an integral part of the labor market in many parts of the world, notably the Arab States, Europe, East and Southeast Asia, and the Pacific (International Labour Organization, 2015). The International Labour Organization estimated that there were about 11.5 million migrant domestic workers globally in 2013 (International Labour Organization, 2018). In developing countries, they accounted for about 4%–10% of the local workforce in 2006 (International Labour Office, 2010). About three quarters of migrant domestic workers are females (International Labour Organization, 2018), of which 24% work in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Almost half of the female migrant domestic workers in Asia work in these two regions (International Labour Organization, 2018).

In the region of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Hong Kong has been a major destination for migrant domestic workers. Hong Kong introduced a policy of importing domestic labor in 1969 for households of foreign nationals living in Hong Kong and in 1972 for all residents (Wang et al., 2018). The demand for foreign domestic helpers has increased tremendously since the 1980s, partly due to the lack of family-friendly employment environments to enhance family–work balance in Hong Kong (Cheung, 2014). The number of foreign domestic helpers increased more than ten-fold from 21,517 in 1982 to 237,104 in 2002 (Hong Kong Government, 2003). The number of foreign domestic helpers continued to increase in recent years, from 351,513 in 2016 to 399,320 in 2019 (Hong Kong Government, 2020).

Given these large numbers, it is not surprising that the study of foreign domestic helpers has gained considerable attention in recent decades. Since foreign domestic helpers usually work in a foreign country by themselves and live in the home of their employers that their work and private space are blurred, many studies have explored their working conditions, mental health, relationships with employers and family back home, and their strategies for coping with discriminatory work environments (Asato, 2004; Baig & Chang, 2020; Cheung & Lui, 2022; Chung & Mak, 2020; Constable, 2007; Hondagneu-Sotelo, 2001; Lai & Fong, 2020; Lan, 2003; Parrenãs, 2001; Parreñas et al., 2019; Ye & Chen, 2020). Such research addresses the “supply side” of this unique labor market. There is a surprising absence of research analyzing the “demand side,” particularly the characteristics of households with and without helpers. Beyond the broad assumption that families with more financial resources and care-taking needs are more likely than others to hire domestic helpers, there is little information about the ways that these resources and needs interact in hiring a foreign domestic helper and whether there is any difference in the processes of hiring one helper and hiring multiple helpers.

Such information is crucially important. First, although the hiring decision processes of organizations and companies have been studied for centuries by researchers in different disciplines, the decisions made by families hiring foreign domestic helpers can be quite different. Given budget limitations, size of accommodation, and different needs, the factors that shape the hiring decisions of families may be different from other segments of the labor market. Such understanding would help us to identify how the labor market for foreign domestic helpers emerged. The information would be critically important to various governments for policy and planning.

Second, many studies have demonstrated that employing foreign domestic helpers is a way of resolving the work–family conflict, especially when many women participate in the labor market full-time (Cheung and Lui, 2017). It has been assumed that outsourcing domestic tasks enables women to devote more time to their jobs. Therefore, delineating ways that household characteristics are related to the employment of foreign domestic helpers will help identify areas of domestic tasks in a family that need to be outsourced. Such investigation is important as a viable option for many women in order to address the family–work relationship.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an in-depth account of the hiring of foreign domestic helpers by household characteristics in Hong Kong. Hong Kong provides an ideal case for examining the complexities of hiring foreign domestic helpers, because of the long history and popularity of the practice among the general public. The Hong Kong government opened the door in 1974 to permit foreign domestic helpers to work in Hong Kong. It has an established system of monitoring the recruitment of foreign domestic helpers (Cortés and Pan, 2013). Hong Kong has served as a benchmark for creating policies related to foreign domestic helpers in Asia. It can be viewed as a typical city for understanding the labor market of foreign domestic helpers in the region. In addition, Hong Kong has been one of the major destinations for foreign domestic helpers. In 2001, about one fifth of households in Hong Kong employed foreign domestic helpers (Cheung and Lui, 2017). The large proportion of households employing at least one foreign domestic helper allows us to explore how household characteristics are related to such employment.

Context

Before 1949, there was a long tradition of hiring live-in domestic helpers in Southern China. As the Communist party took over mainland China, many residents fled to Hong Kong, where the tradition was continued. The early live-in female domestic helpers (muijai) usually remained single and served one family for their entire lifetime. They usually worked for well-to-do families who could afford the financial cost (Constable, 1996). By the 1970s, as Hong Kong’s economy began to expand, virtually no one was willing to remain single to live with a family and serve as a maid (Constable, 1996; Salaff, 1995). Young females could find other jobs than live-in servants (Salaff, 1995. Another factor was the emerging awareness of rising social status of women in the 1970s (Wong, 1973). Female are reluctant to work as live-in servants.

In order to release the female labor force to the rapidly growing economy in Hong Kong in the 1970s, the government introduced a foreign domestic helpers program in 1974. At the same time, the Philippines began the Overseas Employment Program to help Filipinos find jobs abroad because of the poor economy at home at that time (McKenzie, Theoharides and Yang, 2014). The hiring of foreign domestic helpers increased over the years. The total number of foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong jumped from 21,517 in 1982 to 170,971 in 1997 (Hong Kong Government, 2003). Though there are a small number of local domestic workers working a few hours each day or each week, there are virtually no local live-in domestic workers.¹ By 2020, there were about 373,884 foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong (Hong Kong Government, 2021b). About 12.4% of Hong Kong households employed foreign domestic workers. The majority came from Philippines (55.5%), followed by Indonesia (42.2%) (Hong Kong Government, 2021b). The situation becomes a reflection of global inequality that female from low-income countries, sometimes may leave their own children, in order to take care children and families in wealthier countries.

There are minimal requirements for hiring foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong. The labor relationship between the household and the foreign domestic helper is covered by the Standard Employment Contract (Hong Kong Government, 2021a). There is no limit on the number of foreign domestic helpers hired. The only requirement for employers is to provide accommodation with privacy and one day off each week. Wages cannot be lower than the minimum wage set by the government for foreign domestic helpers. However, Cortes and Pan (2013) showed that there was no real increase in the minimum wage for foreign domestic helpers between 1985 and 2006 after inflation was taken into consideration. The amount was around HK$4,000. As well, the earnings of foreign domestic helpers have remained at a similar level despite accumulated experience and networks (Tong and Jiang, 2020). In other words, most households in Hong Kong can afford to hire foreign domestic helpers, because the cost has not risen for a long time. In the same time period, the average wage of local-born married women has doubled. Many observers have suggested that the purpose of the foreign domestic helpers program is to release the local female labor force into the labor market (Cheung and Lui, 2016; Piper, 2017). Cortes and Pan (2013) viewed the program as “an alternative market-based intervention that reduces the price of child care through the increased availability of domestic helpers” (p. 329). Using the Hong Kong census from 2001 to 2006, they found that a reduction in the wages of female foreign domestic helpers was positively and directly related to the participation of local females in the labor force, especially from families with children. By the 1990s, the hiring of female foreign domestic helpers had increased significantly for mothers with high to medium levels of education, but not for mothers with low levels of education. Cortes and Pan (2013) suggested that financial resources still play an important role in the hiring decision. Data collected by He and Wu (2019) for their Panel Study of Social Dynamics showed that having foreign domestic helpers increased the paid work hours of local women. There are two demographic patterns that research on foreign domestic helpers has not addressed sufficiently. First, with the aging population in Hong Kong and the emphasis in Chinese culture on filial piety, more households have elderly parents living together with their adult children. Some qualitative studies have described how foreign domestic helpers become caregivers for these elderly family members and the issues they face. However, the relative significance of families having young children and elderly relatives in shaping the decision to hire foreign domestic helpers remains unclear. The few quantitative studies on the topic did not fully address this issue. Cortes and Pan’s (2013) estimation based on census data did not include the elderly in the analysis. A series of papers on foreign domestic helpers by Cheung and his colleagues (Cheung, 2014; Cheung & Lui, 2016) does not address the issue at all, nor is there a variable included to indicate the presence of elderly individuals in the estimated models. While He and Wu (2019) showed that having elderly relatives in the family reduced the likelihood of hiring foreign domestic helpers, they did not elaborate on the findings.

Second, the pattern of women resigning from jobs after marriage to become housewives has gradually been replaced over the years by diverse working arrangements for females. Some may choose to stay at home after marriage, while the majority may choose to continue to work full-time, and some may choose to work part-time. These patterns reflect the high cost of living in Hong Kong, where many couples no longer can afford to have only one partner going out to work while one stays at home to take care of the household, children, and elderly family members. Some take part-time work so they can help with family finances while maintaining enough time at home to fulfill the role of caregiver. However, there has been no research to explore how spousal working arrangements, working part-time and full-time, are related to hiring domestic helpers.

Literature Review

To understand the decision of households to hire foreign domestic helpers, we argue that, similar to the purchase of other services, the factors affecting the decision are related to the needs of the household and/or the ability to pay the cost. We assume that hiring a foreign domestic helper is a joint household decision, as the benefit and cost of having a foreign domestic helper usually is shared by various household members. Therefore, the analysis should be conducted at the household level, instead of focusing on individuals as previous studies have done.

The obvious starting point for discussing the decision to hire a foreign domestic helper is the financial resources of the household. Households with higher income have extra money to hire a foreign domestic helper to support their work at home. Since households prioritize how to use their financial resources to meet their various needs, hiring foreign domestic helpers may not be the top priority for all households. For example, in Lebanon, Fakih and Marrouch (2014) found that the hiring decision is associated with the presence of children and disabled persons but not elderly persons. In Singapore, Yeoh and Huang (2010) documented that hiring live-in foreign domestic helpers to care for elderly persons in the household had become popular despite the availability of public services for elder care. Baxter, Hewitt and Western (2009) examined the use of paid domestic labor in Australia and found that factors related to income, number of children, and health condition influenced the decision. In UK, Windebank and Martinez-Perez (2018) found that the presence of young children and the full-time employment status of women were associated with the use of paid domestic services. In general, these studies all demonstrate that households have different priorities even though they face similar needs. The major reasons commonly cited for hiring a foreign domestic helper are taking care of young children and care of the elderly. Previous studies have not explored the similarities and differences between these two needs.

Taking Care of Young Children

Taking care of young children is a major task for a family. It involves a number of routines, from setting expectations and conveying the meaning of activities (e.g., to attend school on time), to regulating children’s behavior, to helping them learn how things are done (Andenaes 2014). All these activities are time consuming and require attention. Therefore, a household with more children, especially younger children, is more likely to hire a foreign domestic helper to support the care-giving effort. When a household has more members working in the labor market, which allows them to have additional financial resources, that household is more likely to hire a foreign domestic helper so that its members can be “released” from the role of caring for children. Some researchers argue that there may be no such relationship, not even a negative relationship, between the number of young children and hiring a foreign domestic helper (Dermott and Pomati, 2016). The major argument is that time spent on parenting varies according to parenting style (Gewirtz, 2001). Some parents with more children may spend a similar amount of time taking care of their children as other parents with fewer children. Thus, having more young children at home does not necessarily lead to higher likelihood of hiring foreign helpers. Besides, more children may result in older siblings taking care of the younger ones, which has been a tradition in Asian societies and a common household practice (Kramer and Hamilton, 2019). This arrangement may reduce the likelihood of hiring a foreign helper. In the classic study of the working daughter in Hong Kong in the 1970s, Salaff (1995) found that older female siblings fulfill the value of filial piety by taking care of the younger children.

Taking Care of Elderly

As aging becomes common in societies in East Asia, many families are experiencing the burden of taking care of their elderly at home. Deeply influenced by Confucianism, East Asian societies place high value on filial piety (Lai, 2010). Translating this cultural value into daily life, children are morally expected to look after their parents when they are old or no longer able to care for themselves. Many children invite their parents to live with them in order to manage their care in their own families.

When there are elderly persons in the home, other household members usually find the responsibility of providing the necessary care to be challenging (Leung, 1997). The demands of care intensify as the elderly person becomes older. Their physical health deteriorates and their need for assistance with daily activities increases. Most of the time, household members do not have the knowledge and skill required to provide appropriate care (Basnyat and Chang, 2017). They face increasing physical, psychological, and emotional stress, especially when providing direct care (Wong and Chau, 2006). To alleviate this situation, households hire foreign domestic helpers to share the burden. However, it seems that the outsourcing of care for elderly parents occurs only when necessary and “unavoidable.” (Chang and Schneider, 2010). Children usually prefer to care for their elderly parents themselves, as that is the general expectation. Therefore, when a household has more members of working age, even when they are in the labor market, they arrange to share the care-giving responsibility. Chow (2006) argued that this practice is a key reason why long term care facilities have not been well developed in some East Asian societies, including Hong Kong.

Female Labor Force Participation

The labor market has become more flexible to accommodate females' participation. As females have more job flexibility, they may choose to work part-time or full-time. The lesser amount of time required for part-time work may suggest that female workers in such jobs still can take care of domestic affairs at home. Buehler and O’Brien (2011) found that females who had children and who worked part-time had fewer depressive symptoms than those who were working full-time or not employed. This relatively healthy condition suggests that female part-time workers are able to manage well the demands from home and work. Women who work part-time have more time to take care of their children, while still having time for household work. This argument echoes findings from Stier and Lewin-Epstein (2000) that women’s part-time employment maintains the amount of work they do at home, while women’s full-time employment may change the division of labor in the family. Consequently, only female full-time employment may lead to greater likelihood of hiring a foreign domestic helper.

The decision of a household to hire a foreign domestic helper is related not only to needs and resources, but also to the physical size of the housing unit. Fakih and Marrouch (2014) found that an important factor for hiring a foreign domestic helper in Lebanon was the number of rooms in the household rather than its size (i.e., surface area). Given that most major cities in Asia are densely populated, families usually live in relatively small apartments. The government of Hong Kong requires that all foreign domestic helpers be provided “with suitable accommodation and with reasonable privacy.” (Hong Kong Government, 2021a). Thus, a family apartment with more rooms can be an important factor in deciding to hire one or more foreign domestic helpers.

Data

Data for this paper come from the 5% sample dataset of the 2016 Population By-census of Hong Kong conducted by the Census and Statistics Department of Hong Kong SAR. The dataset provides three levels of records, namely those of occupied quarters (and vessels), households, and persons. Each observation in the dataset is identified by a unique combination of Quarters Serial Number, Household Serial Number, and Person Serial Number.

The analysis requires data at the household level. We selected only domestic households, excluding non-domestic households. We also excluded population in institutions and staff quarters. To these household-level data, we appended relevant individual-level information about all members of the household or relevant household characteristics such as household income and total number of employed household members in the household. The Hong Kong census provides detailed information about the relationship of each household member to the household head. We excluded all live-in workers, including foreign domestic helpers who perform a variety of household services (such as cleaning, cooking, running errands and care-giving), live-in drivers, and live-in gardeners. Therefore, the household income does not include the income paid to live-in workers, and the total number of workers in the household does not include live-in workers.

This paper focuses on the difference between households with foreign domestic helpers and those without. Live-in foreign domestic helpers are defined by two pieces of information. The first is their relationship to household head: they are in the category of “live-in workers.” The second is their occupation, “helper or cleaner,” which excludes other live-in workers such as chauffeurs and gardeners. Very few households have live-in chauffeurs or gardeners, and a vast majority of live-in workers (xx%) are foreign domestic helpers. Our final research sample contains 125,448 domestic households, of which 14,843 households (11.8%) contain at least one foreign domestic helper.

Methods

The dependent variable identifies the number of foreign domestic helpers in the household. Given the small number of households that have more than two helpers, we categorize the outcome into households with no helper, those with one helper and those with multiple helpers. Previous studies have not focused on the decision to hire more than one foreign domestic helper. Our analysis of hiring decisions by households uses the sequential logistic regression model. We consider hiring decisions to be made in stages: additional helpers are hired as needs arise. The model assumes that households decide whether or not to hire a foreign domestic helper, which is modeled using a conventional logit regression, and whether or not to hire an additional helper, which uses another logit model. Both models are estimated simultaneously.

We consider the hiring decision to be determined by two factors—resources and needs. Resources concern affordability of foreign domestic helpers, namely the income and number of workers in the household. In this paper, we count only workers in the prime working age of 30–59. (The vast majority of Hong Kong companies and government services maintain mandatory retirement at age 60.) The number of household members who are of prime working age suggests the number of earners and potential caregivers in the household. The resources relevant to this study are likely to be those of workers in the prime working age group. The need for foreign domestic helpers is largely driven by the needs of children and elderly persons, the number of elderly persons (age 65 and older) in the household, and the number of children (age 15 and younger) in the household.

While the care needs of both the children and the elderly are important factors in making decisions about hiring foreign domestic helpers, the two types of care-giving are different. As well, the nature and extent of the need may depend on the number of workers in the household, as more workers may imply more income or more potential caregivers. Therefore, we include two interaction effects to capture these dynamics.

In addition, we control for the number of rooms, age of household head, education level of household head and the spouse (i.e., university completion), and whether the household head was born in Hong Kong. Hong Kong residents become used to, sometimes feel necessary, hire domestic helpers.

Results

Table 1 presents the means and standard deviations of resource variables by the number of foreign domestic helpers in the household. The average monthly household income of households without foreign domestic helpers is about 31,000 HKD. On average, households hiring one foreign domestic helper earn twice as much as those without foreign domestic helpers, and those with multiple foreign domestic helpers earn nearly three times more. Similarly, the average number of workers of prime working age in households without foreign domestic helpers is just under one person, whereas the comparable numbers in households with one foreign domestic helper and multiple foreign domestic helpers are both about 1 person. Clearly, only households with more resources in the labor force tend to hire more foreign domestic helpers.

Table 1.

Means and SDs of Resource Variables by Number of Helpers in Household.

	No Helper	One Helper	Multiple Helpers
Household income (in 10,000 HKD)	3.104 (2.882)	6.204 (4.635)	8.711 (5.639)
Number of workers (age 30–59)	0.922 (0.790)	1.222 (0.831)	1.070 (0.868)

Turning to the needs variables, Table 2 presents the average numbers of elderly persons (aged 65 and above) and children (aged 15 and below) and standard deviations by the number of helpers in the household. The basic statistics suggest that households with more elderly persons and children are more likely to hire more foreign domestic helpers. However, the average number of elderly persons is relatively similar between households without foreign domestic helpers (0.42) and households with one foreign domestic helper (0.45). The difference between households with one foreign domestic helper and those with multiple foreign domestic helpers is more substantial: the average number of elderly persons is about 0.57 for households that have multiple foreign domestic helpers. On the other hand, the average number of children for households with helpers is more elastic. The average number of children for households with one helper (0.79) is three times as high as the comparable number for households without helpers (0.26). The difference between households with one helper and those with multiple helpers (1.09) is still sizable, but comparatively smaller than the difference between households with no helper and those with one helper.

Table 2.

Means and SDs of Needs Variables by Number of Helpers in Household.

	No Helper	One Helper	Multiple Helpers
Number of elderly persons	0.421 (0.670)	0.449 (0.682)	0.574 (0.839)
Number of children	0.262 (0.593)	0.789 (0.859)	1.086 (1.109)
Number of households	110,605	13,788	1055

While these “needs” variables (as well as the “resources” variables presented in Table 1) seem to be positively related to the number of foreign domestic helpers in the household, the mean values do not change uniformly between household categories. In Table 1, only household income seems more significant to the decision to hire one helper (vs. no helper) than to the decision to hire multiple helpers (vs. one helper). Table 2 suggests that the presence of elderly persons may be more important to the decision to hire multiple helpers than to the decision to hire one helper, whereas the presence of children may matter more in the decision to hire one helper than in the decision to hire multiple helpers. The results suggest that it is necessary to examine separately the decision to hire the first helper and the decision to hire subsequent helpers (thus forming a household with multiple helpers).

Table 3 reports the descriptive statistics of all variables included in the analysis. The couple household is still the dominant household type in Hong Kong. Most households in Hong Kong reside in small units, most with only three rooms. The average age of household heads is about 54. The statistics suggest that younger households may still live with their parents as the cost of housing in Hong Kong is very high. Additional analysis not shown in the table reveals that among couple households, a majority of spouses do not work, while about 34.5% work full-time, and 13.9% work part-time.

Table 3.

Means and Standard Deviations of Variables Used in Analysis of Domestic Helpers.

Variables	All Domestic Households		Couple Households
Variables	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
Outcome
Number of helpers	1.127	0.357	1.158	0.394
Household resource
Household income (in 10,000 HKD)	3.492	3.335	4.258	3.572
Number of working household	0.956	0.800	1.168	0.806
Members (age 30–59)
Household needs
Number of elderly persons (age 65+)	0.425	0.673	0.429	0.741
Number of children (age 0–15)	0.327	0.658	0.468	0.752
Household characteristics
Number of rooms	3.222	1.255	3.494	1.174
Head’s age	54.107	15.285	54.044	13.338
Local-born head	0.574	0.494	0.593	0.491
Number of grand/Parents (age < 65)	0.056	0.293	0.034	0.240
Head’s education	0.215	0.411	0.219	0.414
Spouse’s education	—	—	0.181	0.385
Household type: Couple	0.571	0.495	—	—
Household type: Lone-parent	0.118	0.322	—	—
Household type: Relatives	0.104	0.306	0.067	0.250
Wife’s work: Full-time worker	—	—	0.345	0.476
Wife’s work: Part-time worker	—	—	0.139	0.346
Number of households		125,448		72,935

Hiring Foreign Domestic Helpers Among All Household Types

To examine the decisions to hire a foreign domestic helper and to hire an additional helper, we employ a sequential logistic model. We examine the interaction between a resource factor and needs factors. Table 4 presents the results of our sequential models.² As suggested by Khalilzadeh and Tasci (2017), we also presented the effect size for reference as we have large sample size. We followed Chinn’s (2000) suggestion, we divided ln(odd ratio) by 1.81 to obtain the effect size.

Table 4.

Sequential Logistic Models of Household Decisions to Hire Live-in Domestic Helpers (All Domestic Households Included), 2016.

Variables	No Interaction				Interaction
	First Hire (1a)		Subseqent Hire (1b)		First Hire (2a)		Subsequent Hire (2b)
	Odds Ratio	Chinn’s Effect Size	Odds Ratio	Chinn’s Effect Size	Odds Ratio	Chinn’s Effect Size	Odds Ratio	Chinn’s Effect Size
Household income (in 10,000 HKD)	1.160 ***	0.082	1.103 ***	0.054	1.160 ***	0.082	1.102 ***	0.054
Number of working household	1.033 **	0.018	0.566 ***	−0.314	1.027	0.015	0.517 ***	−0.364
Members (age 30–59)
Number of elderly persons (Age 65+)	1.429 ***	0.197	1.430 ***	0.198	1.970 ***	0.375	1.363 ***	0.171
Number of children (age 0–15)	2.858 ***	0.580	2.100 ***	0.410	1.642 ***	0.274	1.921 ***	0.361
Working members x Elderly Age 65+	—	—	0.660 ***	−0.230		1.043	0.023
Working members x Children	—	—	1.517 ***	0.230		1.070	0.037
Number of rooms	2.038 ***	0.393	1.900 ***	0.355	2.059 ***	0.399	1.898 ***	0.354
Household Head’s age	1.018 ***	0.010	1.011 ***	0.006	1.014 ***	0.008	1.011 ***	0.006
Local-born head	1.313 ***	0.150	0.941	−0.034	1.294 ***	0.142	0.935	−0.037
Household type: Couple	0.552 ***	−0.328	0.678 ***	−0.215	0.571 ***	−0.310	0.714 **	−0.186
Household type: Lone-parent	0.774 ***	−0.142	1.048	0.026	0.965	−0.020	1.099	0.052
Household type: Relatives	0.398 ***	−0.509	0.862	−0.082	0.487 ***	−0.398	0.909	−0.053
Constant	0.001 ***	−3.816	0.001 ***	−3.816	0.001 ***	−3.816	0.001 ***	−3.816
Observations	125,448		125,448		125,448		125,448

We first examine the decision of households to hire foreign domestic helpers without considering the interaction factors (Models 1a and 1b, estimated simultaneously). As expected, resource variables (total household income and number of workers of prime working age in the household) and needs variables (number of elderly persons and young children) in the household are positively associated with the decision to hire foreign domestic helpers regardless of whether or not the household already has a foreign domestic helper. The associations are all significant and in the expected direction.

Comparing the odds ratios from Models 1a and 1b, the number of elderly persons is related equally to the decision to hire one foreign domestic helper (1.429) and the decision to hire additional foreign domestic helpers (1.430), whereas the number of children is more relevant to the hiring of the first or only foreign domestic helper (2.858) than to the hiring of additional helpers (2.1). These results are consistent with the observations based on Table 2.

The number of rooms and the age of the household head are also positively associated with the decisions to hire the first and subsequent helpers. Interestingly, local-born heads are more likely than foreign-born heads to hire one foreign domestic helper, but nativity is not significantly related to hiring more than one helper. It is possible that hiring multiple helpers is based on necessity, regardless of whether the household head is local-born or immigrant.

The models with interaction effects (Models 2a and 2b) show how the needs factors (number of children and elderly persons) affect the hiring decision, depending on the number of employed persons of prime working age in the household. The interaction of the number of working age persons and the number of children shows a positive relationship with hiring one foreign domestic helper. The findings suggest that households are more likely to hire one foreign domestic helper whenever there are children. The likelihood is increased when more household members are working. The findings suggest that these members choose to work and outsource the care of young children to foreign domestic helpers. For elderly persons aged 65 and over, including the interaction effect, the main effect shows that having elderly persons in the household is associated with higher likelihood of hiring one foreign domestic helper. However, the likelihood of having one foreign domestic helper is reduced when the interaction effect of number of household members who work and number of elderly is considered. The findings may suggest that members of households are more likely to take care of the elderly when more household members are of prime working age, even though they work, instead of outsourcing the care-giving to foreign domestic helpers. They co-ordinate and share the care-giving responsibility.

When we consider the hiring of more than one foreign domestic helper, having more elderly persons and having more young children still are associated significantly with hiring more than one foreign domestic helper, but neither interaction term, number of working household members and number of children or elderly, is significantly related to hiring more foreign workers. This finding suggests that households hire more foreign helpers when there is need, and that the decision is not related to the number of working age members.

Additional Analysis

It is possible that households may include older members below age 65 who can care for children and elderly above age 65. Thus, household composition affects the likelihood of hiring foreign domestic helpers when there are children or elderly requiring care. In the first model reported in Table 5, we include a variable to indicate the number of elderly below age 65. Results show that a larger number of elderly below to age 65 is related to lower likelihood of hiring a foreign domestic helper. Yet, the relationship becomes insignificant for hiring more than one foreign domestic helper. The relationship of the number of elderly age 65 or above, the number of young children, and the interaction effect of these two variables with the number of working age household members remains the same even when controlling for the number of elderly below age 65. The findings suggest that hiring foreign domestic helpers when there are children and elderly is not affected by the presence of younger elderly who may be able to provide care.

Table 5.

Sequential Logistic Models of Household Decisions to Hire Live-in Domestic Helpers (All Domestic Households Included), 2016.

Variables	Model 1				Model 2				Model 3
	First Hire		Subsequent Hire		First Hire		Subsequent Hire		First Hire		Subsequent Hire
	Odds Ratio	Chinn’s Effect Size	Odds Ratio	Chinn’s Effect Size	Odds Ratio	Chinn’s Effect Size	Odds Ratio	Chinn’s Effect Size	Odds Ratio	Chinn’s Effect Size	Odds Ratio	Chinn’s Effect Size
Household income (in 10,000 HKD)	1.160 ***	0.082	1.102 ***	0.054	1.127 ***	0.066	1.096 ***	0.051	1.151 ***	0.078	1.093 ***	0.049
Number of working household	1.024	0.013	0.517 ***	−0.364	1.053 **	0.029	0.520 ***	−0.361	1.028	0.015	0.491 ***	−0.393
Number of elderly persons (Age 65+)	1.974 ***	0.376	1.363 ***	0.171	1.857 ***	0.342	1.354 ***	0.167	2.234 ***	0.444	1.411 ***	0.190
Number of children (age 0–15)	1.618 ***	0.266	1.923 ***	0.361	1.634 ***	0.271	1.927 ***	0.362	1.406 ***	0.188	1.896 ***	0.353
Working members x Elderly Age 65+	0.659 ***	−0.230	1.043	0.023	0.678 ***	−0.215	1.049	0.026	0.670 ***	−0.221	0.999	−0.001
Working members x Children	1.523 ***	0.232	1.070	0.037	1.507 ***	0.227	1.066	0.035	1.511 ***	0.228	1.083	0.044
Number of rooms	2.061 ***	0.400	1.898 ***	0.354	2.032 ***	0.392	1.891 ***	0.352	2.115 ***	0.414	1.853 ***	0.341
Household Head’s age	1.013 ***	0.007	1.011 ***	0.006	1.019 ***	0.010	1.012 ***	0.007	0.989 ***	−0.006	1.009 *	0.005
Local-born head	1.288 ***	0.140	0.935	−0.037	1.262 ***	0.129	0.928	−0.041	1.388 ***	0.181	0.907	−0.054
Number of Elderly Persons (< age 65)	0.753 ***	−0.157	1.017	0.009	0.763 ***	−0.149	1.034	0.018	0.797 ***	−0.125	1.140	0.072
Head’s education	—		—		1.775 ***	0.317	1.182 **	0.092	—		—
Spouse’s education	—		—		—		—		1.728***	0.302	1.283***	0.138
Household type: Couple	0.578 ***	−0.303	0.714 **	−0.186	0.632 ***	−0.254	0.715 **	−0.185	1.820 ***	0.331	0.699 **	−0.198
Household type: Lone-parent	0.978	−0.012	1.099	0.052	1.060	0.032	1.096	0.051	—		—
Household type: Relatives	0.500 ***	−0.383	0.908	−0.053	0.569 ***	−0.312	0.927	−0.042	—		—
Constant	0.001 ***	−3.816	0.001 ***	−3.816	0.001 ***	−3.816	0.001 ***	−3.816	0.001 ***	−3.816	0.001 ***	−3.816
Observations	125,448		125,448		125,448		125,448		72,935		2935

We ran models to include education level of household head and spouse. Studies suggest that the education of household head and spouse are related to the likelihood of hiring foreign domestic helpers, which in turn may make the relationship between having children or elderly and hiring foreign domestic helpers a spurious effect. We ran separate models (Models 2 and 3) to include education of household head and spouse because of the high correlation. We did not include lone parent households or relative households in the model when we ran the model with education of spouse, because those variables do not apply to cases with spouses. Our results show that a household head having university education is associated with higher likelihood of hiring foreign domestic helpers for both models. However, the inclusion of the variable does not change the original relationship of hiring foreign domestic helpers with having elderly, having young children, or the interaction in terms of number of household members in the labor market, and whether the household is hiring one or more foreign domestic helpers.

Hiring Foreign Domestic Helpers Among Couple Households

Next we focus on couple households only. The setup of the analysis is the same as Table 4. Results are reported in Table 6. Given that the intention of the government policy on the hiring of foreign helpers is to enable women to enter the labor force, we examine the role of the wife’s economic activity in couple households (i.e., working full-time, part-time, or not working). The findings show that couple households in which the wife is working, whether full-time or part-time, are more likely to hire one foreign domestic helper than couple households where the wife does not have a job. However, the relationship becomes insignificant when two or more foreign domestic helpers are considered. The findings suggest that wives who are working, whether part-time or full-time, are more likely to hire a foreign domestic helper to support their role as caregiver in the household. Hiring a foreign domestic helper is related to “releasing” the spouse to work even part-time. The patterns for couple households related to number of elderly, number of children, and the interactions in terms of number of household members who are employed are the same as the findings when all households are included.

Table 6.

Sequential Logistic Models of Household Decisions to Hire Live-in Domestic Helpers (Only Couple Households Included), 2016.

Variables	No Interaction				Interaction
	First Hire (1a)		Subsequent Hire (1b)		First Hire (1a)		Subsequent Hire (2b)
	Odds Ratio	Chinn’s Effect Size	Odds Ratio	Chinn’s Effect Size	Odds Ratio	Chinn’s Effect Size	Odds Ratio	Chinn’s Effect Size
Household income (in 10,000 HKD)	1.175 **	0.089	1.101 ***	0.053	1.176 ***	0.090	1.100 ***	0.053
Number of working household	0.751 ***	−0.158	0.548 ***	−0.332	0.787 ***	−0.132	0.513 ***	−0.369
Members (age 30–59)
Number of elderly persons (Age 65+)	1.639 ***	0.273	1.462 ***	0.210	2.264 ***	0.451	1.446 ***	0.204
Number of children (age 0–15)	2.689 ***	0.547	2.143 ***	0.421	1.603 ***	0.261	1.900 ***	0.355
Working members x Elderly Age 65+	—		—		0.669 ***	−0.222	0.994	−0.003
Working members x Children	—		—		1.425 ***	0.196	1.089	0.047
Number of rooms	2.115 ***	0.414	1.861 ***	0.343	2.145 ***	0.422	1.863 ***	0.344
Household Head’s age	0.991 ***	−0.005	1.009 *	0.005	0.984 ***	−0.009	1.007	0.004
Local-born head	1.395 ***	0.184	0.906	−0.055	1.392 ***	0.183	0.906	−0.055
Wife’s work: Full-time worker	2.447 ***	0.494	0.969	−0.017	1.952 ***	0.370	0.924	−0.044
Wife’s work: Part-time worker	2.210 ***	0.438	1.001	0.001	1.740 ***	0.306	0.956	−0.025
Constant	0.002 ***	−3.433	.001 ***	−3.816	0.003 ***	−3.209	0.001 ***	−3.816
Observations	72,935		72,935		72,935		72,935

Sensitivity Tests

We conducted a set of sesitivity tests that further include the number of elderly below age 65, wife's full time/part time employment status, and education level of household head and spouse in the models. The results are reported in Table 7. In sum, the findings suggest that the relationships of the spouse who has a part-time or full-time job, the presence of elderly age 65 or above, young children, and the interaction in terms of the latter two variables with the number of household members of prime working age do not change when we control for number of elderly age 65 or above and educational level of household head. These findings show the robustness of the results.

Table 7.

Sequential Logistic Models of Household Decisions to Hire Live-in Domestic Helpers (Only Couple Households Included), 2016.

Variables	Model 1				Model 2				Model3
	First Hire (2a)		Subsequent Hire (2b)		First Hire (3a)		Subsequent Hire (3b)		First Hire (3a)		Subsequent Hire (3b)
	Odds Ratio	Chinn’s Effect Size	Odds Ratio	Chinn’s Effect Size	Odds Ratio	Chinn’s Effect Size	Odds Ratio	Chinn’s Effect Size	Odds Ratio	Chinn’s Effect Size	Odds Ratio	Chinn’s Effect Size
Household income (in 10,000 HKD)	1.175 ***	0.089	1.101 ***	0.053	1.142 ***	0.073	1.093 ***	0.049	1.149 ***	0.077	1.093 ***	0.049
Number of working household Members (age 30–59)	0.788 ***	−0.132	0.514 ***	−0.368	0.811 ***	−0.116	0.518 ***	−0.363	0.806 ***	−0.119	0.516 ***	−0.366
Number of elderly persons (Age 65+)	2.266 ***	0.452	1.448 ***	0.205	2.128 ***	0.417	1.443 ***	0.203	2.119 ***	0.415	1.430 ***	0.198
Number of children (age 0–15)	1.590 ***	0.256	1.908 ***	0.357	1.613 ***	0.264	1.914 ***	0.359	1.610 ***	0.263	1.896 ***	0.353
Working members x Elderly Age 65+	0.670 ***	−0.221	0.993	−0.004	0.697 ***	−0.199	1.001	0.001	0.694 ***	−0.202	1.006	0.003
Working members x Children	1.430 ***	0.198	1.088	0.0471	1.415 ***	0.192	1.081	0.043	1.418 ***	0.193	1.084	0.045
Number of rooms	2.151 ***	0.423	1.861 ***	0.343	2.123 ***	0.416	1.853 ***	0.341	2.132 ***	0.418	1.850 ***	0.340
Household Head’s age	0.984 ***	−0.009	1.008	0.004	0.991 ***	−0.005	1.009 *	0.005	0.991 ***	−0.005	1.010 **	0.005
Local-born head	1.384 ***	0.180	0.906	−0.055	1.349 ***	0.165	0.898	−0.059	1.383 ***	0.179	0.909	−0.053
Number of Elderly (age < 65)	0.744 ***	−0.163	1.149	0.077	0.776***	−0.140	1.178	0.091	0.770***	−0.144	1.176	0.090
Head’s education	—		—		1.765 ***	.314	1.204 **	0.103	—		—
Spouse’s education	---		---		---		---		1.706 ***	0.295	1.273 ***	0.133
Wife’s work: Full-time worker	1.948 ***	0.368	0.924	−0.044	1.952 ***	0.370	0.927	−0.042	1.881 ***	0.349	0.907	−0.054
Wife’s work: Part-time worker	1.737 ***	0.305	0.955	−0.025	1.745 ***	0.308	0.966	−0.019	1.687 ***	0.289	0.946	−0.031
Constant	0.003 ***	−3.209	0.001 ***	−3.816	0.002 ***	−3.433	0.001 ***	−3.816	0.002 ***	−3.433	.001 ***	−3.816
Observations	72,935		72,935		72,935		72,935		72,935		72,935

Conclusions

Hiring foreign domestic helpers has been seen as a policy to release females from household responsibilities so they can join the labor market. Although there are studies that support the relationship, few studies have explored the way in which the decision to hire foreign domestic helpers is shaped by different needs in households or the number of household members who are workers. Employing the 2016 Hong Kong census, we have explored how different needs in the household are related to the hiring of migrant domestic helpers.

Our findings suggest that the number of elderly persons and the number of young children in the household are positively associated with the decision to hire foreign domestic helpers regardless of whether or not the household already has a foreign domestic helper. The associations are all significant and in the expected direction.

However, our analysis also demonstrates that the way in which the needs factors (the numbers of children and elderly persons) affect the hiring decision depends on the number of household members who are employed. The interaction of the number of working age persons in the household and the number of young children indicates a positive relationship with hiring one foreign domestic helper. The findings suggest that the likelihood of hiring a foreign domestic helper increases when more household members are at work. The findings suggest that these members choose to work at jobs and outsource the care of young children to foreign domestic helpers.

As for the number of elderly persons aged 65 and over, including the interaction effect, the main effect still suggests that having elderly in the household is associated with higher likelihood of hiring one foreign domestic helper. However, the findings are opposite to the interaction effect of having young children. The likelihood of having a foreign domestic helper is reduced when the interaction effect of number of household members at work and number of elderly is considered. The findings suggest that households are more likely to take care of elderly without helpers when there are more employed household members of prime working age, because even if they are employed, they may be able to co-ordinate and allocate time to take care of their elderly instead of outsourcing the care to a foreign domestic helper.

When we consider the hiring of more than one foreign domestic helper, even though having more elderly persons and more young children still are significantly associated with hiring more than one foreign domestic helper, the interactions no longer are significantly related to hiring more foreign workers. This finding suggests that households hire more foreign helpers when there is need. The hiring decision is not related to the number of working age household members who are available to provide care.

We also found that couple households are more likely to hire foreign domestic helpers when the wives have part-time or full-time work. Though we cannot show a causal relationship that hiring foreign domestic helpers leads to higher likelihood of wives going out to work, we should suggest a strong and significant association.

Our findings have some important implications. First, similar to the purchase of other services, a household with limited resources usually prioritizes its needs. However, the hiring decision regarding the need to care for young children and elderly is different. The decision to hire foreign domestic helpers is more elastic in relation to the number of young children than to the number of elderly.

Second, households are less likely to hire foreign domestic helpers to take care of the elderly when there are more employed household members of prime working age. Thus, it is important for governments to consider how to support households, especially in East Asian societies, when aging is becoming a bigger issue. Many households are facing the burden of taking care of their parents. The value of filial piety to take care of their parents leads adult children to hesitate to pay someone else to do so.

Third, our study shows that hiring more than one foreign domestic helper is more a response to the needs of the household, regardless of how many employed household members of prime working age. The decision to hire one foreign domestic helper seems to be different from hiring more than one. This difference should be studied further, as more household heads are in the “sandwich” situation whereby they have to take care of their elderly parents and their children at the same time. More than one foreign domestic helper is needed when there are more individuals needing care.

Finally, our study has direct implication to economics within household. Hiring a foreign domestic worker can be viewed as the demand and resources available to the household. Household will decide to outsource household work according to their evaluation the importance of taking care elderly and young children. Such decision can be a joint decision among household members. Future study can further formally model such dynamics.

Our study is based on Hong Kong data. Although the city has a long tradition of hiring large numbers of foreign domestic helpers, there are factors specific to Hong Kong that may limit the application of the findings to other East Asian societies: for example, the small physical size of apartments, the severe economic stratification, and the specific law that governs the hiring of foreign domestic helpers. Future studies should explore how needs and resources are related in other East Asian societies, such as Taiwan and Singapore, which also have large volumes of foreign domestic helpers. Besides, the phenomenon of foreign domestic workers may reflect larger global inequality in the global labor market that female in low-income countries, sometimes giving up to take care their own children, in order to take care children and families in wealthier countries. This pattern reflects the gender, class, and race issues related to supply and demand in a global labor market. Such topic requires further exploration.

Despite the limitations, our study has highlighted the importance of understanding the growing phenomenon of foreign domestic helpers from the employer household perspective. Without an understanding of supply (the foreign domestic helper perspective) and demand (the employer perspective), we cannot project the full picture of foreign domestic helpers.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Eric Fong

Notes

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