Pay for migrant workers and caregivers increased last year, while language barriers remained a top challenge facing employers, the results of a survey released yesterday by the Ministry of Labor showed.
Conducted in July and August last year, the annual survey collected 8,545 responses, including from 4,523 businesses in the manufacturing, construction, agriculture and fishery sectors that hire workers and 4,022 household employers of caregivers, the ministry said.
As in previous editions over the past decade, the survey focused on conditions in June, rather than the full year.
Photo: Taipei Times
For migrant workers employed by Taiwanese businesses, regular monthly pay averaged NT$29,800 in June last year, with overtime pay averaging NT$5,100, bringing total pay to NT$34,900, up 4.7 percent from NT$33,300 in June 2024, the survey showed.
The rise in regular monthly pay was driven by adjustments following Taiwan’s minimum monthly wage hikes, which raised the floor to NT$28,590 on Jan. 1 last year, and NT$29,500 from Jan. 1 this year, the ministry said.
Migrant workers employed by businesses are covered by the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) and are therefore entitled to at least the minimum wage, while caregivers hired by households are not covered by the act and are subject instead to a separate minimum monthly salary of NT$20,000.
The report showed caregivers’ regular pay averaged NT$21,300 in June last year, with overtime pay averaging NT$2,800, for a total of about NT$24,200, up 1.8 percent from NT$23,800 a year earlier.
About 34 percent of businesses and household employers said they encountered difficulties when managing migrant workers, with the language barrier being the most common issue for businesses at 23.2 percent and for household employers at 24.5 percent, mirroring the results from the previous year.
The second most common issue reported by businesses was low cooperation (12.6 percent) and spending too much time on phones or chatting for household employers (10.1 percent).
Migrant caregivers averaged 10.1 hours per day in June last year, little changed from 10.3 hours in June 2024, the report showed.
For migrant workers employed by businesses, total working hours averaged 196.5 hours in June last year, up nearly 10 percent from 179.1 hours a year earlier, as regular hours rose to 168.2 and overtime increased to 28.3 hours, the ministry said.
It attributed the rise mainly to increased overtime at some manufacturers, driven by artificial intelligence-related business opportunities.
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