My Thoughts on Hiring Domestic Helpers

It’s Sunday afternoon again. I am having my cleaning lady help me do some housework now while I try to write this journal entry as quickly as possible. For the past 10 years, I have hired a part-time domestic helper to tidy up my apartment for three hours on a biweekly basis. She helps me iron my clothes and clean my bathroom, kitchen and living room.

For three hours’ worth of housework, I pay the domestic help agency SGD 83 (approximately USD 61), which I find quite reasonable. The lady who currently services my house is from Myanmar. Although her knowledge of English is somewhat limited, it’s sufficient for her to understand the tasks that need to get done, so overall I’m quite happy with her level of service.

Here in Singapore, hiring a domestic helper is a very common practice, due to the prevalence of double-income households and an aging population. Most domestic helpers are from the Philippines, Indonesia, and Myanmar. They are attracted to Singapore for the higher wages compared to their home countries, and the relatively low language barrier to overcome as people here speak English.

When I was in Japan more than 20 years ago, it was very rare for Japanese households to hire domestic helpers, as it was taken for granted that each person should take care of their own housework and paying someone else to do their domestic chores was generally frowned upon as a sign of laziness.

However, these days, things are slowly changing in Japan. A few weeks ago, I read a report on a Japanese news site that in big cities like Tokyo and Osaka, there has been a significant increase in demand for domestic help in normal middle-income households as people experience more pressure at work.

I think it’s a good change, because paying others to do your housework is not something that you should be ashamed of. I believe that lack of open-mindedness is holding back Japan’s economic development, and it’s high time that Japanese people started changing their mindsets.

Given its shrinking population, Japan should also consider allowing more immigrants to settle in the country. The language barrier is a major impediment, as Japanese people generally aren’t fluent in English.

For immigrants to adapt successfully to their new environment, the government should provide more support for immigrants, including helping them learn the Japanese language and local customs. Granted, it’s an expensive and time-consuming undertaking, but it needs to be done as Japan’s very survival as a nation is at stake.