The government’s decision to increase the minimum wage for live-in migrant caregivers and domestic workers might help ease a labor shortage, but it would not do much to make Taiwan an internationally competitive destination for such workers, Taiwan International Workers’ Association member Chen Hsiu-lien (陳秀蓮) said on Wednesday.
The new policy, which was announced by the Ministry of Labor earlier in the day, increased the monthly minimum wage for migrant domestic workers to NT$20,000 from NT$17,000 — a 17 percent increase, but still well below Taiwan’s standard minimum wage of NT$25,250.
The change applies only to newly arrived migrant workers and those in Taiwan who sign new contracts. It does not affect people with existing contracts.
Photo: CNA
While the increase might help attract workers in the short term, it fails to address the real reasons behind Taiwan’s failure to recruit enough caregivers on the international labor market, Chen said.
To improve Taiwan’s competitiveness, live-in migrant workers need to receive the same minimum wage and labor protections as Taiwanese, and employers should also provide better working conditions, she said.
A monthly salary of NT$20,000 is still “extremely low,” considering that by the ministry’s own calculations, migrant domestic workers are on the clock for 13 hours a day on average, she said.
If employers are unable to pay the salaries needed to recruit and retain such workers, the government needs to consider using more of its long-term healthcare budget to subsidize them, Chen said.
Chang Heng-yen (張姮燕), an adviser to a group that advocates for disabled families and employers of migrant domestic workers, said that the minimum wage hike only affects the immediate problem of recruiting new workers.
What it does not address is the more pressing issue of worker retention, as live-in caregivers frequently leave their positions for higher-paying factory jobs, Chang said.
What employers care about is not the amount of an increase, but that it is introduced in stages, giving workers an incentive to stay in their jobs, she said.
Separately, the ministry yesterday said that employers who already pay migrant domestic workers more than NT$20,000 amonth cannot unilaterally reduce the pay to the minimum wage.
Changes to an employment contract without the consent of both parties is a finable offense and might lead to the permit to employ foreign workers being revoked, ministry official Chuang Kuo-liang (莊國良) said.
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