SHENZHEN is in need of over 200,000 domestic helpers, but the current household service industry rules can barely meet practical needs, so some lawmakers in Shenzhen have called for an amendment to the rules as part of next year’s legislation plan, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

    Zhang Guoyan, secretary general of the Shenzhen Home Service Development Association, said the monthly wage for domestic workers in Shenzhen ranges from 3,600 yuan (US$523) to 7,000 yuan depending on their experience.

    Zhang said that many migrant workers from distressed areas joined the industry in Shenzhen as they didn’t have another means of livelihood, but the city is still in need of 200,000 domestic workers.

    Zhou Feihe, chairman of a Shenzhen-based household service agency, said that most domestic workers only have middle school degrees, and the job’s high salary is appealing to them. “Caregivers for new mothers can earn over 10,000 yuan per month,” he said.

    Zhou said that household service companies can take control of the quality of their domestic workers by adopting staff management systems. He said that the “cold-blooded nanny” who murdered over 10 seniors in Guangzhou last year is a reflection of the household service agency’s failure to check the quality of its workers.

    According to Zhang, there aren’t industrial standards or unified trainings for domestic workers nationwide. Sun Jingtao, owner of a household service website in Shenzhen, said that industrial standards should be based on practical experiences in the industry rather than the government’s rigid rules.

    Meng Jun, owner of a home service company, said that 80 percent of the household service agencies in Shenzhen are losing money, and most of them are run by families in a traditional way. He said that the industry should be treated differently as it offers a good number of job opportunities for rural labor workers.

    Sun said that the government should establish a registration system for domestic workers, which includes their health certificates, qualifications and identity authentication, so that the public can check these domestic workers’ credit records.

    Meng said that the government should also offer insurance or subsidies to household service companies to relieve their financial burden. “The supply of caregivers for new mothers is sufficient in Shenzhen because the government sponsored the pre-employment training of 5,000 caregivers last year,” Meng said.

    There were 306,000 domestic workers in Shenzhen as of October, but only 10,500 of them were regular employees of home service companies, statistics show.

    The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is the major source of Shenzhen’s domestic workers.

    (Zhang Yang)