The government said yesterday that it will hold a ministerial meeting early next month to re-formulate human-resources policy in a bid to help multinational companies address an acute shortage of high-tech workers.
The government's move came in response to a complaint from the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (AmCham) about difficulties in recruiting workers.
"Reviewing problems regarding human resources to help companies cope with global operations is one of our top priorities," Hu Sheng-cheng (
Hu said the council has been aggressively studying new human resources policies, including how to ease worker shortages faced by many multinational companies and streamlining the procedures for foreign employees of these firms to enter the country.
AmCham, which has 800 members representing about 500 foreign companies with operations in Taiwan, said in its annual White Paper released on Tuesday that multinational companies in high-tech manufacturing and research and development, as well as in portions of the service sector, are encountering a growing shortage of "knowledge workers."
To solve such shortages, Amcham president Tom Johnson said, the government should establish a high-level, inter-agency task force to review the human-resources regulatory framework and come up with ways to improve it.
Hu said the CEPD will discuss measures with the relevant government agencies including the ministries of economic affairs and finance, the Mainland Affairs Council and Council of Labor Affairs early next month.
Another problem is the difficulty in bringing in employees who are Chinese citizens for training programs, conferences, or short-term work assignments.
It often takes months to bring Chinese professionals into the country for just a single project, which has caused difficulties for foreign investors and multinational companies, an AmCham official said on Tuesday.
Last year the government relaxed restrictions on Chinese doing business in Taiwan and streamlined the visa application procedures for Chinese spouses of foreign professionals, the CEPD said.
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