Despite pressure from potential investors who may want to reestablish plants in Taiwan, the government will maintain the minimum wage requirement for foreign workers, an official from the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) said.
Employment and Vocational Training Administration Deputy-Director Liao Wei-jen (廖為仁) told a group of China-based Taiwanese businesspeople on Friday that the wage issue would not be changed, but that other measures, such as flexible hiring quotas, would be used to help them if they relocated back to Taiwan.
Some of the businesspeople, who returned to Taiwan for the Dragon Boat Festival celebrations, had suggested on Friday that the government exclude foreign workers from the minimum wage system to enhance the appeal of moving production facilities back to Taiwan.
In response, Liao said Taiwan had become less attractive for migrant workers because its wage levels lagged behind those of South Korea and Hong Kong, with South Korea’s minimum wage twice that of Taiwan.
Moreover, Liao said, if Taiwan compromised on the minimum wage, it would face criticism from international media and labor rights activists, which could eventually have a substantial impact on major domestic companies and original equipment manufacturers.
Liao said real wages in Taiwan had not increased significantly in recent years, nor had the minimum wage. In the past, wages in Taiwan were 20 times higher than in Thailand, but that difference has narrowed to two to three times, he said.
Before the end of September, the CLA will also introduce new measures that will allow for greater flexibility in assigning foreign worker quotas, based on the principle that those hiring more local workers will be given higher quotas to hire migrant workers.
To help local companies become more competitive, Liao said the government was promoting a direct hiring system for foreign workers to cut brokerage fees.
Another council official said the CLA was planning to allow all foreign workers to be hired directly by their employers, rather than through brokers.
The council will expand the current direct employment system, which applies only to the reemployment of workers who have already worked in Taiwan, to include newly recruited foreign workers, the official said on condition of anonymity.
The council has long planned to introduce the direct employment system in three phases, the official said.
First, the reemployment exemption was applied to foreign caregivers for private patients in 2008. Then, workers in the manufacturing, construction and fisheries industries, as well as caregivers at institutions and housemaids, were allowed to apply for direct reemployment last year.
In the third stage, the council hopes to allow all foreign workers to be hired or reemployed without the use of brokers, the official said.
The direct employment system will save foreign workers and local employers from having to pay brokerage fees, but if the plan to recruit new workers is to succeed, complementary measures have to be in place, the official said.
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