The minimum allowable wage for foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong will rise 4.8 percent, or 180 HK dollars (23.2 U.S. dollars), from 3,740 HK dollars to 3,920 HK dollars per month, the city's Labor Department said Wednesday in a statement.

The new level will apply to all contracts signed on or after Sept. 20, it said. The current minimum allowable wage of 3,740 HK dollars per month has been effective since June 2 of 2011.

Under the standard employment contract for hiring foreign domestic helpers, employers must provide them with food free of charge, or pay a food allowance in lieu of free food. The food allowance will increase by 100 HK dollars, to not less than 875 HK dollars a month from not less than 775 HK dollars a month -- a 12. 9-percent increase.

The new wage and food allowance level will apply to all contracts signed on or after Thursday, according to the statement.

The Hong Kong Immigration Department will still process contracts signed on Wednesday or earlier with the existing minimum allowable wage of 3,740 HK dollars a month and a food allowance of not less than 775 HK dollars a month, provided the applications reach the department on or before Oct. 17.

Foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong are foreign domestic workers and housemaids employed by Hong Kong residents, typically families. They usually live in their employer's residence and perform various household duties such as cooking, cleaning, dishing, washing serving and child-minding. Many of them have to wear a uniform.

Hong Kong has permitted foreign domestic helpers to work in Hong Kong since the 1970s to meet the shortage of local full-time live-in domestic helpers.

They make up around 4 percent of the population of Hong Kong and an overwhelming majority of them are women.

Figures from the city's Immigration Department showed that there were 299,961 foreign domestic helpers in the city at the end of 2011, more than four times as many as a decade ago. Of them, some 48 percent were from the Philippines and about 49.5 percent from Indonesia. (1 U.S. dollar equals 7.75 HK dollars)

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