Wed, Sep 24, 2025 page8

• Improving Taiwan’s foreign labor policy

  • By Steve Kuan 官文傑
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  President William Lai (賴清德) said in an exclusive interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) on Sept. 8 that regulations would be eased to allow families with one child up to age 12 to apply for a foreign domestic helper.

  As early as campaigning for last year’s presidential election, Lai had mentioned in media interviews that expanding the introduction of foreign domestic helpers was one of his policy plans.

  His goal is to help working women, who often stay at home to care for children or elderly family members, return to the workforce to address Taiwan’s severe labor shortage, but the well-intentioned policy has not yet been effectively implemented by the Ministry of Labor.

  On Dec. 31 last year, the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment to the Employment Service Act (就業服務法), allowing people aged 80 or older to bypass Barthel Index health assessments — a widely used tool in Taiwan to assess a person’s ability to perform daily activities in clinical practice and research — to be eligible to hire live-in caregivers.

  However, the policy’s implementation was delayed by more than six months. Moreover, the ministry estimated that more than 100,000 people would apply, but only about 3,000 applications have been submitted so far.

  The massive gap between projections and outcomes is alarming, suggesting that there is a lack of qualified professionals overseeing foreign labor affairs and highlighting an urgent need to review the ministry’s handling of foreign labor policy.

  The monthly salary for foreign domestic workers in Taiwan is about NT$20,000. When job security fees, health insurance, accident insurance, and the cost of food and lodging are provided, that creates a salary equivalent to about NT$30,000 (or about US$990) — more than double what it is in other countries. The international rate for in-home care work is about US$400 per month. The Philippine government last month announced that overseas employers of Filipino workers must comply with a policy of US$500 per month, although it is uncertain whether other countries would adhere to it.

  Taiwan should freeze salaries for foreign workers to prevent placing excessive hiring costs, which could reduce willingness to employ them.

  Foreign domestic workers often receive training abroad that encompasses not only language instruction, but also the use of common household appliances and cleaning procedures. They are also trained in the care of infants and older children, as well as elderly and sick people. Only after completing the training, which typically lasts about three months, can they qualify to work in Taiwan.

  Lai and Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) should completely abolish the use of the Barthel Index and fully open the country to foreign domestic workers, without distinguishing between live-in caregivers and domestic helpers. The distinction creates loopholes that some might exploit to incite labor disputes for profit. Eliminating it would help prevent disputes and save the country significant costs associated with foreign worker placement.

  With regard to sources of foreign labor, Taiwan’s relatively high compensation should make it easy to recruit not just 100,000, but even 1 million workers. If the ministry lacks the capacity to achieve that goal, the government could seek assistance from private-sector experts on foreign labor affairs. That would allow challenges to be resolved easily.

  Steve Kuan is a former chairman of the Taipei Employment Service Institute Association and the New Taipei City Employment Service Institute Association.

  Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
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