The easing of rules on hiring migrant domestic workers has drawn mixed reactions, with employers and brokers welcoming the move as better suited to caregiving needs, while labor and childcare advocates raised concerns about worker protections.
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved of a measure relaxing rules on hiring foreign domestic workers, allowing families with at least one child younger than 12 to apply for a helper starting from April 13, under a new policy aimed at easing childcare burdens.
Heidi Chang (張姮燕), president of the International Association of Family and Employers with Disabilities, an employers’ group, called the move “a long-awaited policy.”
Photo: CNA
Easing eligibility is a positive response to Taiwan’s low birthrate and care-related labor shortage, which have made some couples hesitant to have children.
Lu Hsi-an (呂錫安), chairman of the Tainan Employment Service Institute Association, a brokers’ group, said he welcomed the relaxed rules, as it would meet the needs of some families, criticizing the current rules as too strict.
Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) defended the move yesterday, saying some women sacrifice their career to raise children, and that giving families another option could help ease childcare burdens and raise the birthrate.
However, Childcare Policy Alliance convener Wang Chao-ching (王兆慶) said the new rules “will not help address the low birthrate.”
Hong Kong “has no restrictions at all” on hiring migrant domestic workers, but its fertility rate is similar to Taiwan’s, at about 0.8 percent, showing that looser access to such workers does not necessarily translate into higher birthrates, Wang said.
A survey conducted by the alliance last year found that access to migrant domestic workers would do little to boost the employment of Taiwanese women, he added.
Taiwan Labor Front secretary-general Yang Shu-wei (楊書瑋) said easing eligibility could undermine the job stability of about 25,000 childcare workers in Taiwan, including babysitters and preschool personnel.
The measure would render foreign domestic workers as “low-paid workers with long hours,” Yang said.
Migrant domestic workers are not covered by the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), receive wages far below the minimum wage and lack full rest protections, he said, adding that their monthly pay often falls short of NT$30,000, even when they do not take days off.
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