CLA changes rules for foreign worker quotas

The existing quota system in the government's policy on foreign labor will be replaced by dynamic management, Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) Chairman Lu Tien-lin (盧天麟) said yesterday.

Explaining that dynamic management refers to basing the number of foreign workers allowed into the country on the local unemployment rate and general job market situation, Lu said the CLA would invite representatives of employers, wage earners, government agencies and academic groups to flesh out guiding principles and technical details for the implementation of the new policy.

Under the new policy, Lu said, the door will be opened wider for selected local industries to import more foreign workers at times when the unemployment rate falls below a certain level and the introduction of more foreign laborers would have little impact on local workers' job opportunities.

Moreover, Lu said, the new policy would divide international migrant workers into two categories -- "industry foreign laborers" and "welfare service laborers" -- which would be subject to different regulations.

As the Ministry of the Interior is carrying out a 10-year professional caregiving industry development project aimed at training a large number of qualified native caregivers, the number of foreign caregivers allowed in will gradually decrease and the quota saved in this category will allow for the import of more foreign workers for the industrial sector, Lu said.

If the project fails to live up to expectations, Lu said, the door will remain open for foreign caregivers.

In an effort to reduce the financial burden on low-income families that need to employ foreign caregivers, he said, the CLA was considering cutting down the "employment stabilizing fund" that each employer of foreign caregivers is required to pay.

On the "industry foreign laborers" front, he said that the CLA had proposed a 30,000-person quota for the backbreaking, dirty and dangerous "3K" industries and industries that require around-the-clock shifts and a 23,000-person quota for major investment projects. Neither of these quotas has been filled, Lu said.

Lu said the percentage of foreign workers for each NT$10 billion (US$300.5 million) infrastructure construction project had been adjusted from 20 percent of the total to 40 percent.

To achieve a balance between local industries' demand for foreign laborers and native workers' job opportunities, the CLA will set the foreign-native workers ratio for individual industries in terms of their differing demands, Lu said.

Quoting Executive Yuan tallies, Lu said the government had sanctioned a quota of 391,926 for foreign workers. So far, local employers have imported only 347,172 workers, leaving an unused quota of 44,754.

Last year, the government also approved a quota of 23,000 for foreign laborers for major investment projects, Lu said.

"So far, only 5,500, or 24 percent of the total, have been imported, "he said.

Hopefully, companies that benefit from the introduction of foreign workers should "show some social responsibility" by giving priority to local workers, even though local laborers receive a much higher pay rate, Lu said.