The number of migrant workers in Taiwan reached 706,060 in April, with more than 90 percent of them from Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines, Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) data showed on Saturday.
More than 271,000, or 38.4 percent of migrant workers, were from Indonesia followed by Vietnamese (221,000, 31.4 percent) and Filipinos (154,000, 21.8 percent), the data showed.
Total migrant workers exceeded 700,000 for the first time in October last year, when there were 703,162.
Photo: Wang Han-ping, Taipei Times
The data showed that 259,144, or 36.7 percent, worked in domestic care and services, while 446,916, or 63.3 percent, worked in manufacturing, construction, agriculture and other roles.
Most migrant workers in the manufacturing, agricultural and construction sectors were in Taoyuan — more than 91,000 — while Taichung had 78,000 and New Taipei City 56,000, the data showed.
Taipei had the highest number working as carers or doing similar work with 44,000, while New Taipei City had 43,000.
Migrant workers reported as missing or working at jobs other than what they were legally contracted to do totaled 51,982, or 7.4 percent, National Immigration Agency data showed.
In related news, police in Taichung yesterday detained 10 people at the ASEAN Square shopping mall in Central District (中區) near the Taichung Railway Station.
Seven Thais — five men and two women — one Indonesian woman and two Vietnamese men were questioned about their employment and visa status, police said.
Control Yuan members last year said that officials from the Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Ministry of Health and Welfare should be held accountable for a lack of long-term planning and negligent supervision amid a surge in hiring of foreign workers without proper documentation.
“Reports of missing migrant workers have increased each year, creating public security concerns,” the Control Yuan said in a report.
“The percentage of migrant workers convicted of criminal activity has also risen, especially for assault, endangering public safety, narcotics activities, illegal logging and poaching,” the report said.
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
The Ministry of Culture yesterday officially launched the “We TAIWAN” cultural program on Osaka’s Nakanoshima sandbank, with the program’s mascot receiving overwhelming popularity. The cultural program, which runs from Aug. 2 to 20, was designed to partner with and capitalize on the 2025 World Expo that is being held in Osaka, Japan, from April 13 to Oct. 13, the ministry said. On the first day of the cultural program, its mascot, a green creature named “a-We,” proved to be extremely popular, as its merch was immediately in high demand. Long lines formed yesterday for the opening
STAY VIGILANT: People should reduce the risk of chronic liver inflammation by avoiding excessive alcohol consumption, smoking and eating pickled foods, the physician said A doctor last week urged people to look for five key warning signs of acute liver failure after popular producer-turned-entertainer Shen Yu-lin (沈玉琳) was reportedly admitted to an intensive care unit for fulminant hepatitis. Fulminant hepatitis is the rapid and massive death of liver cells, impairing the organ’s detoxification, metabolic, protein synthesis and bile production functions, which if left untreated has a mortality rate as high as 80 percent, according to the Web site of Advancing Clinical Treatment of Liver Disease, an international organization focused on liver disease prevention and treatment. People with hepatitis B or C are at higher risk of
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