Hong Kong  - More than half of Hong Kong's army of foreign maids would be sacked if proposals to increase their pay by around 160 US dollars a month are approved, a survey indicated Monday.

Fifty-three per cent of employers interviewed said they would terminate their Filipino, Indonesian and Thai domestic helpers if the rise demanded by maids unions was given the go-ahead.

Only 25 per cent of respondents said they would continue to employ their maids if the mandatory minimum wage was increased from 460 US dollars to 620 US dollars a month.

Around 560 employers were interviewed for the survey by the pro-business Liberal Party, which opposes an increase in the maids' minimum wage.

More than 200,000 women from the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand work as live-in maids for working Hong Kong families, doing housework and child care for a government-set minimum wage. (dpa)