A labor policy that went into effect yesterday officially opened up Taiwan's market to Mongolian labor, according to the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA).
The CLA said yesterday that it had come to an agreement with its Mongolian counterpart after about two years of negotiations.
"This policy will give employers looking to hire foreign workers one more choice in the hiring process," said Kuo Fong-yu (郭芳煜), director-general of the Bureau of Employment and Vocational Training under the CLA.
"Employers can apply to the CLA to hire foreign workers. After approving the application, the CLA will allow employers to choose which country they want to hire from. The agreement with the Mongolian government affords employers a fifth choice," Kuo said.
Rules are already in place for hiring workers from Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia.
Sukhbaatar Dolgoryn, director-general of Mongolia's Labor Force Mediation Bureau, said 7,000 workers had already registered to be employed in Taiwan.
He said roughly 3,000 of them have been chosen to attend a two to three month language and professional training course in preparation for employment in Taiwan. The course is slated to begin today.
Although the policy has already come into force, Kuo said that the time it takes for Mongolian workers to begin coming to Taiwan will depend on the efficiency of the hiring process.
"The Central Employment Office of the Mongolian government can begin to approach employers now that the labor agreement has been officially announced," Kuo said.
He also stressed that granting work visas to Mongolian workers would not have an effect on the total number of foreign workers in Taiwan.
"Employers still need to apply to the CLA for approval before hiring foreign workers. The only difference is that now they have more choice in choosing foreign employees," Kuo said.
The Department of Health inspected and certified the Mongolian National Center for Communicable Disease in November to perform health checks on Mongolian workers before they begin employment in Taiwan.
Dolgoryn said that of the Mongolian workers who have expressed interest in working in Taiwan, about 90 percent are between the ages of 20 and 35 and about 55 percent are male.
The CLA said that while Mongolians can be employed in various sectors, they will most likely work initially in manufacturing jobs and later as domestic workers.
Mongolian Central Employment Office Director-General Dagdan Jantsan said Mongolian workers have registered directly with the government for employment in Taiwan, bypassing fees by employment agencies. Workers would only have to pay for the airplane ticket to Taiwan, he said.
According to Mongolian labor officials, around 2,000 Mongolians are now employed in South Korea, Japan, the Czech Republic and Hungary, and earn an average salary of roughly US$500 per month.
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