The European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan (ECCT) yesterday welcomed the easing of residency requirements for foreign professionals and called for more flexible rules on work hours.
“Attracting and retaining the right people is arguably the most important criterion for success in the modern economy,” the trade group said in its annual position paper released yesterday.
Taiwan is facing critical shortages of both white and blue-collar workers in several sectors and there is no one-size-fits-all solution, the paper said.
“The government’s proposed revision is acceptable, but we need more time to see how the matter settles,” ECCT vice chairman Olivier Rousselet told a news conference.
The ECCT has recommended abolishing “rest day” restrictions and allowing workers the option of working on rest days, as well as increasing the monthly overtime maximum.
In addition, the chamber has pressed for flexibility in working hour accounting and exemptions on work hour rules for sales staff, senior managers and those whose salaries exceed NT$200,000 per month.
Labor rules introduced in December last year reduce employers’ flexibility to manage their workforce, and increase their personnel and administrative costs, the paper said.
Workers have also complained about the rigidity of the system, because they are deprived of the option to work on certain days and earn overtime, it added.
Solving Taiwan’s talent shortage requires both investment to upgrade education and training facilities, and removing restrictions on people and institutions from abroad, the paper said.
Schools considering establishing a presence in Taiwan to teach software or Internet-related engineering face a plethora of laws and regulations that discourage prestigious foreign educational institutions from setting up branches in Taiwan, it said.
“A simple fix would be to exempt private IT [information technology], software, engineering or related schools from the tough requirements of the Private School Act [私立學校法],” the paper said.
Meanwhile, concrete action is required if Taiwan is to raise the share of renewable energy sources to its target of 20 percent by 2025, the trade group said.
Too many agencies are involved in the application process for renewables and there is a lack of coordination among them, the ECCT said, adding that the necessary investment in grid infrastructure to allow the addition of renewable energy sources has not yet been forthcoming.
The ECCT recommended establishing an energy industry supervisory commission vested with the authority to coordinate among government agencies and collaborate with the private sector to resolve administrative difficulties and streamline the application process.
Taiwan has great potential for offshore wind development and has attracted applications from developers for a total of 10 gigawatts of capacity, the ECCT said, but added that offshore wind projects require large-scale equipment and infrastructure investment, which is not yet present in the nation.
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
Popular vape brands such as Geek Bar might get more expensive in the US — if you can find them at all. Shipments of vapes from China to the US ground to a near halt last month from a year ago, official data showed, hit by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a crackdown on unauthorized e-cigarettes in the world’s biggest market for smoking alternatives. That includes Geek Bar, a brand of flavored vapes that is not authorized to sell in the US, but which had been widely available due to porous import controls. One retailer, who asked not to be named, because
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
Prices of gasoline and diesel products at domestic fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.2 and NT$0.3 per liter respectively, after international crude oil prices increased last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week snapped a two-week losing streak as the geopolitical situation between Russia and Ukraine turned increasingly tense, CPC said in a statement. News that some oil production facilities in Alberta, Canada, were shut down due to wildfires and that US-Iran nuclear talks made no progress also helped push oil prices to a significant weekly gain, Formosa said
RSS