Cabinet to promote local pay rises for more migrant workers: Officials

Taipei, Oct. 29 (CNA) The Cabinet is scheduled to refine its policies on the employment of migrant workers, including allowing the hiring of additional workers beyond existing quotas, provided each extra foreign worker results in a local employee receiving a monthly pay increase of NT$2,000 (US$65.37), an official said Wednesday.

Minister without Portfolio Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) told reporters that the number of migrant workers to be employed under the planned new system would be capped at less than 10 percent of an employer's total workforce.

Currently, companies in certain Taiwanese industries allowed to hire migrant workers can employ up to 40 percent of their workforce as blue-collar foreign laborers -- mostly from Southeast Asian countries -- while the total number of foreign workers, including intermediate skilled and managerial staff, is capped at 50 percent of the workforce.

If the system allowing more migrant workers in exchange for a pay raise is introduced, the 40 percent cap will be increased to 45 percent, while the 50 percent cap will not be changed in order to protect local workers' job opportunities, Chen said.

Chen briefed the media on a series of measures regarding the employment of migrant workers that the Cabinet is set to approve during a meeting on Thursday.

Another proposed measure would replace the rule that currently allows employers to retain up to 25 percent of the maximum number of migrant workers employed as "intermediate skilled foreign workers" instead allowing intermediate skilled workers to account for 100 percent of the fixed number of migrant workers, Chen said.

Under the "Long-term Retention of Skilled Foreign Workers Program" introduced in 2022, employers can reclassify migrant workers who have worked in Taiwan for more than six years as "intermediate skilled foreign workers," who must be paid at least NT$33,000 in the manufacturing sector, above the minimum wage, and can apply for permanent residency if they meet other requirements.

The program, designed to retain experienced and skilled workers, has a 25 percent cap to maintain employment opportunities for local workers.

Meanwhile, Chen said the Ministry of Labor is planning to establish a recruitment center for migrant workers, in order to bring them into Taiwan through government-to-government channels instead of the current broker-based system.

The labor brokerage system has long drawn criticism for charging workers exorbitant broker fees and lacking transparency in the recruitment process, often leaving workers in debt bondage before they even begin working in Taiwan.

According to Su Yu-kuo (蘇裕國), division chief at the ministry's Workforce Development Agency, the government-to-government recruitment program, once established, will prioritize negotiations to bring in intermediate skilled workers for the hospitality and port sectors, which are not currently open to migrant workers.

The government plans to set up recruitment centers in key migrant worker countries -- including Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Thailand, the main sources of migrant workers in Taiwan -- with one or two launched in the first quarter of next year as a pilot project, according to the officials.

Asked by reporters whether this policy meets industry needs, given that labor shortages may be at the entry-level, Chen said the industry has expectations, but the government cannot squeeze out job opportunities available for local workers.