Chain businesses association seeks more foreign workers

Taipei, Oct. 2 (CNA) A national association representing chain businesses on Friday called for the further opening of the service sector to foreign workers, citing a recent survey showing that 98.8 percent of such businesses face manpower shortages.

The government should consider allowing foreign workers into more service industries to help address persistent labor shortages, Jimmy Tsai (蔡德忠), head of the Taiwan Chain Stores and Franchise Association (TCFA), said at a forum.

Tsai suggested initially capping the number of foreign workers at 5 percent of each company's workforce to give businesses time to adapt their training and management practices.

The TCFA organized the forum to highlight recruitment difficulties facing the service sector, which have been exacerbated by Taiwan's low birthrate, following a survey of 160 chain and franchise businesses conducted in July and August.

TCFA Secretary-General Hung Ya-ling (洪雅齡) said the labor shortage poses a risk to companies' expansion and growth, according to a press release.

In the service sector, foreign workers have been allowed to work only in the hospitality and commercial port sectors since the beginning of this year, with the first batch of 35 Indonesians arriving in Taiwan on Sept. 14 to work at a hotel.

According to the press release, 98.8 percent of chain-store outlets face labor shortages, with 82.5 percent reporting moderate or more severe shortages.

The survey also found that 57 percent of respondents had faced shortages for over a year, while more than 80 percent saw no improvement this year compared to last year, the TCFA said.

The labor shortage has also affected the sector's operations, with 77.5 percent of companies reporting heavier employee workloads, 60.5 percent struggling with staffing schedules and 29.4 percent shortening business hours, the survey found.

The survey showed that 79.7 percent cited young people's low interest in service-sector jobs as a key recruitment challenge, followed by long working hours (43.7 percent), heavy workloads (41.8 percent) and work-related stress (39.9 percent).

Speaking at the forum, Tsai also called on the government to ease work-hour restrictions on foreign students, extend the post-graduation job-seeking period and provide a one-stop service window to retain international students after graduation.

Currently, foreign graduates with an associate degree or higher can work in Taiwan for two years after graduation without a work permit or industry restrictions, after which they are limited to specialized or technical jobs, excluding entry-level positions such as food-service jobs.