Filipino workers thriving in Maltese homes

Statistics given to this newspaper by the Employment Training Corporation (ETC) show that 108 of 499 (22%) registered home based personal care workers hail from the Philippines. Maltese still account for 71% of all home based personal care workers.

Statistics also show that 10 of the 23 registered nannies working in Malta hail from the Philippines. In total 140 Filipinos are registered as personal care workers, nannies, domestic cleaners, butlers and housekeepers.

These constitute the majority of the 278 foreigners working in these jobs. 56 foreigners, nine of which hail from the Philippines, also
work as institution-based care workers, a sector which employs 1044 Maltese persons.

A further 212 foreigners, 47 of which come from Eritrea, are employed as cleaners. 3677 Maltese are employed in this sector.

Part of the family
“I feel part of the family,” Maria, a Filipino full-time nanny and housekeeper living with a Maltese family told this newspaper. Maria is paid minimum wage but is satisfied with the arrangement, as she does not pay for food or lodging. She sends half her wage back
to the Philippines to help her family.

Like other care Filipino domestic workers, Maria was legally brought to Malta by an agency which has local representatives. The family which hosts her contends that Filipinos are very trustworthy and find it very easy to integrate in to Maltese culture. “They are reliable, clean and work with a smile on their face,” Maria’s Maltese employer told MaltaToday. She also noted that many Filipinos are Catholic and family-oriented, like many Maltese.

The idea of hiring a nanny from the Philippines is still a prerogative of a few well-off families and most Filipino personal carers are being entrusted with the care of elderly in their homes.

The maid trade
Money sent by overseas Filipino workers back to the Philippines is a prominent feature of the country’s economy, amounting to more than US$10 billion in 2005. This makes the country the fourth largest recipient of foreign remittances behind India, China, and
Mexico. The amount represents 13.5% of the Philippines’s Gross Domestic Product, the largest in proportion to the domestic economy among the four countries mentioned.

Ageing populations in western countries, as well as the increasing number of families where both partners work, have increased the need for foreign care workers and nannies. The Philippine government actually helps prospective maids seeking work in other
countries.

The ‘super maid’ programme is just one of hundreds of courses being offered by the state run state-run Technical Education and Skills Development Authority for Filipinos looking for work abroad. It is, however, among the country’s most popular courses and can even be offered for free to those awarded a government scholarship. Students in the super maid programme learn to bake bread, cakes and cookies, operate appliances such as vacuum cleaners and floor polishers and cook international cuisine.

Nursing is another sector which is attracting a large number of Filipinos to western countries. Yet there is darker side the Filipino maid trade, especially in the oil rich gulf states like Saudi Arabia, where cases of sexual and physical abuse against maids reduced to slavery have been denounced by human rights bodies.