A pilot program for Filipino domestic helpers in Seoul will be extended for one year.

The labor ministry, which runs the program jointly with Seoul City, announced on Friday that its foreign workforce policy committee approved the extension.

At the end of the initial six-month trial period, the hourly cost of hiring a domestic helper will increase by two-thousand-860 won, or a little less than two U.S. dollars, to 16-thousand-800 won, or eleven dollars and 64 cents.

The Filipino caregivers were hired to work from September 3 until the end of February after completing a four-week training course.

The labor ministry had initially planned to roll out a nationwide program with 12-hundred domestic workers in the first half of the year, but due to low demand from other local governments, it decided to extend the current program in Seoul.