Singapore, Singapore – Poe Ei San, a Myanmar migrant, could not find work as a nurse in affluent Singapore. So she cleaned houses instead.
Every day, the 25-year-old Yangon University graduate washes toilets, scrubs floors, and wipes down kitchens. “Because of the low pay and instability in Myanmar, many young people look for jobs overseas,” she said.
Poe is among a small but growing number of home cleaners employed through the city-state’s Household Services Scheme (HSS), a four-year pilot programme allowing companies to hire migrant workers from countries including Myanmar, Thailand, India and Sri Lanka to provide part-time cleaning services for households. Companies offer part-time home cleaning at about 20-25 Singapore dollars ($15-19) an hour, with slots ranging from two to eight hours.
The scheme is primarily designed to meet demand for part-time help, and by…
