The idea of allowing migrant workers to become immigrants has become a hot topic in Taiwan.
On Monday last week, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) — ran a report titled “From migrant workers to new immigrants: Dilemma of an exclusive law or an administrative order.” The report detailed how Minister of Labor Hsu Ming-chun (許銘春) ordered the ministry’s Workforce Development Agency to draft new regulations in this regard. Hsu plans to resolve the nation’s labor shortage by providing migrant workers with a pathway to immigration by administrative order rather than legislation.
It is worth considering that increased immigration would result in a permanent increase to the nation’s population, whereas the labor shortage is merely a temporary phenomenon. Furthermore, the technical knowledge of blue-collar and white-collar workers should be considered, not to mention variables such as the domestic supply of high-tech talent.
Thus, a rushed policy of transitioning migrant workers toward becoming immigrants lacks an overall, in-depth evaluation of the pros and cons for society. This could result in the eventual collapse of the government’s incoherent labor policy. It could also generate disputes between migrant workers and their employers, and wider society would pay a considerable price if these rifts were to snowball into riots.
As for the alarmist talk about the labor shortage by academics and experts, these should not be taken seriously. The shortages in the past two years have resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic and the border closure, which have made it difficult for migrant workers to enter. Therefore, the problem is not related to wages, nor to Japan and South Korea competing for migrant workers, as some have said. In the eyes of migrant workers, Taiwan is still a worker’s paradise. There is no skill threshold or language restriction here, and they can gain much more than they give, since their income is among the highest in Asia. This is the main reason migrant workers like to work in Taiwan.
Workers’ average pay in Taiwan is more than 10 times higher than what they could earn in their home countries. The purpose of working in Taiwan is to make money and then return home, where they can buy land and property, start businesses or retire. Therefore, they have no desire or interest in immigrating to Taiwan.
If the Ministry of Labor persists with this old way of thinking of boosting immigration through migrant workers by following the model for foreign students studying in Taiwan, this high-risk strategy could create disputes. The use of either a point system or high wages as the criteria for attracting immigrants would be a gift for foreign labor groups, as such an approach would open a path for them to profit greatly. The policy would significantly increase the number of salary disputes, which would affect social order and also exhaust government officials nationwide.
Resolving the labor shortfall should be relatively straightforward. In addition to recruiting migrant workers from more foreign countries, the government should introduce an economic immigration bill for review by the legislature. The legislation would allow Taiwan to import skilled workers who are willing to emigrate to the nation. After passing a language proficiency test, they should be allowed to work in Taiwan along with their family members, and after working here for a certain period of time, they should be granted permanent residence or even citizenship.
Steve Kuan is former chairman of the Taipei and New Taipei City employment service institute associations.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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