Foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong will have their monthly minimum salary increased by 2.2 per cent to HK$5,100 (US$655), for employment contracts signed on or after Tuesday, the government has announced.

But the monthly food allowance will remain unchanged at no less than HK$1,236 if their employers choose not to provide free food, it added on Monday.

The announcement came after a local employers’ group earlier called for a freeze on the minimum salaries of foreign domestic helpers amid the economic slowdown, even as some unions representing the workers asked for up to a 30 per cent pay rise, to HK$6,500 a month.

A government spokesman said the local administration regularly reviewed the monthly wage for foreign domestic helpers to ensure it was “commensurate with Hong Kong’s economic and labour market conditions”.

The decision to increase the monthly salary from the current HK$4,990 by 2.2 per cent was based on a basket of factors, including Hong Kong’s general economic performance and labour market conditions over the past year, the near-term economic outlook, and employers’ affordability.

The basic living needs of helpers and the views of different stakeholders were also taken into consideration, the spokesman added.