A stranger/helper at home: A household survey dataset for studying families with migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong

The dataset discussed in this article is derived from the project “A Stranger/Helper at Home: An Integrated Framework on Hiring Domestic Help and Family Relations in Hong Kong.” Using a multi-stage stratified sampling approach, this cross-sectional household survey is representative of married individuals within a specific age group in Hong Kong. The survey focuses on understanding the dynamics, determinants, and outcomes of hiring migrant domestic workers among married couples. The fieldwork for data collection was conducted from November 2018 to July 2019 through structured face-to-face interviews using a computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) system. This dataset encompasses an extensive array of variables, including the sociodemographic profiles of the couples, household labor divisions, marital quality, employment histories, marriage and fertility histories, and detailed records of employing migrant domestic workers since marriage. Additionally, it includes self-reported measures of subjective well-being. The public-use dataset, available in CSV and SPSS formats, includes 2003 cases and 257 variables, with personal and proprietary information redacted to ensure confidentiality. This rich dataset offers numerous research opportunities on household labor, the employment of migrant domestic workers, and their effects on family relationships and well-being. It has substantial potential to provide insights and inform evidence-based family and population policies both in Hong Kong and internationally. Uniquely, this dataset is the first of its kind in Hong Kong, and elsewhere, to provide a complete event history of employing migrant domestic workers. It is an invaluable resource for researchers and policymakers examining household labor patterns and the employment of domestic workers. The dataset facilitates correlation and event-history analyses to investigate the factors influencing the employment of migrant domestic workers and their impacts on employment and fertility. Such analyses can shed light on the timing of hiring domestic workers, the duration of their employment, and its stability, thereby supporting the development of informed family policies that enhance individual and family well-being. Additionally, this dataset can provide a foundation for international comparative studies if similar data are gathered in other contexts, and serve as a baseline for comparison in Hong Kong if further data are collected using a repeated cross-sectional design.