Wage discrimination amongst maids in Singapore.

Abstract

This study investigates the presence of ethnic-based wage discrimination in the labour market of maids in Singapore. It employs the methods and techniques used in previous studies of wage discrimination in other labour markets; the formulation of an earnings function (adapted from the traditional human capital model), and the testing for residual wage differentials (by multiple linear regression using Ordinary Least Squares method) alluding to discrimination (taste-based or statistical). The main source of data for this research is extracted from the website, NetMaid, where it provides a comprehensive database of maid profiles. The wage coefficients for the nationality of maids, including the interaction terms, are found to be statistically significant, implying the existence of nationality-based wage discrimination amongst maids in Singapore.