( CNN ) -- Hong Kong is facing an acute shortage of one the engines of its dynamic economy -- cheap domestic help . More than 290,000 foreign domestic helpers -- mainly Indonesians , Filipinas and Thais - live and work in the special administrative region of Hong Kong , according to Hong Kong 's Department of Immigration . But fears that Indonesian plans to wind up the foreign export of its low-skilled workers by 2017 will lead to a shortage of cheap hired help has the city 's employment agencies looking elsewhere in the region . This week Hong Kong received its first batch of domestic helpers from Bangladesh , a country that agencies hope will provide a rich source of women willing to work in a foreign country for just $ HK3,920 ( $ 505 ) a month . `` There are not enough Filipino and Indonesian domestic helpers these days , '' said Teresa Liu Tsui-lan , the managing director of the Technic Employment Service Centre . `` We have a good training course for them in Bangladesh over three months where they learn Cantonese and Chinese cooking . `` We think that employers will be able to accept that , '' she told CNN . She said there was now a lot of competition from other countries -- mainly Singapore , Malaysia and Taiwan -- for Indonesian maids , making it harder for Hong Kong to recruit them . `` Even though the salary offered in Hong Kong is higher , these countries are a lot closer to Indonesia so it 's easier for domestic helpers to return home when they need to , '' Liu said . She said Indonesian maids were in demand as carers for the elderly because , with limited English skills , their Cantonese has a tendency to improve quickly . Filipinas , by contrast , who often have high levels of English before they come to Hong Kong , normally rely on English to communicate with their Hong Kong employers , she said . Another 75 Bangladeshi workers will arrive in Hong Kong over the next three months , followed by 150 to 200 every month after that . There are currently just 71 Bangladeshi domestic helpers in Hong Kong , compared with 152,557 Indonesian and 149,009 Filipino domestic helpers in the city , according to 2012 figures from the Department of Immigration . The Bangladeshi helpers said they paid an agency in Bangladesh about $ HK13,000 - more than three times their monthly salary - to apply for the job in Hong Kong . One of the helpers , Khadiza Akter , 24 , who is married with a son , told a press conference in Hong Kong that she planned to work in the city for five years . `` My husband is a driver and I want to buy another car for him so that we can start our own business , '' she said . `` I also want to give my son a better education . '' Indonesia 's Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar last year announced the country planned to stop sending domestic workers abroad from 2017 . While the government has no authority to prevent people from seeking work abroad , he said workers would have to have a clearly defined position and working status before taking up a foreign job . `` The recipient country would have to recognize them as formal workers with certain rights , such as working hours , the right to holidays and leave as well as to a set salary , '' Iskandar told the Jakarta Globe . While Hong Kong has strong laws in place to protect the legal minimum wage of $ HK3,920 ( U.S. $ 505 ) a month , domestic helpers are sometimes subject to abuses such as long working hours , sub-standard living and sleeping arrangements and employers that attempt to cut deals to pay below the legal minimum . Indonesia slapped moratorium on domestic workers to Malaysia in 2009 after multiple cases of abuse there . While the country has since lifted the ban , it only resumed sending migrant workers after more than a year of protracted negotiations on protecting the rights of domestic workers in Malaysia . Indonesia 's economy has shown stellar growth in recent years , expanding 6.02 % in the first quarter of 2013 , according to figures from Indonesia 's Bureau of Statistics . With jobs available domestically , analysts say many Indonesians were are electing to stay at home . An Indonesian Business Forum held in Hong Kong recently outlined the thrust of government policy , which aims to boost the skill sets of Indonesian foreign workers , particularly those working in building and construction . `` In five years it will be a very different situation , '' Indonesian government economic advisor Professor Hermanto Siregar told the forum . `` These changes are already happening in the likes of South Korea and Japan . There are many semi-skilled workers employed there now on much better wages than they would earn as domestic helpers . ''
Hong Kong faces a shortage of domestic workers , a vital part of its economy . It has said it aims to curb its low - skilled foreign work pool by 2017 . Hong Kong plans to import more domestic helpers from Bangladesh . There are currently more than 300 foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong .