Ministry of Agriculture officials have proposed to increase the quota for agricultural migrant workers by 20,000, but the Ministry of Labor said it would initially approve 7,000.
The proposal aims to address the labor shortage in agricultural sectors, such as farming, dairy production, livestock raising and beekeeping by raising the quota on foreign workers, agriculture ministry officials said last month.
The pilot program started in 2019 with 800 migrant workers, mainly from Southeast Asian countries, then expanded to 12,000 by mid-2023 and added 8,000 more in 2024, officials said.
Photo: CNA
The labor ministry said its Cross-Border Workforce Policy Consultation Committee conducted an evaluation and review, and found that there was a high rate of absconding migrant workers — or those who leave their legal contracts to become undocumented migrant workers in the underground economy.
Approval for raising the quota would be contingent on the agriculture ministry’s success in tackling the issue, the labor ministry said, adding that the agriculture ministry must submit a report on the situation of the “missing” migrant workers, as well as plans to better mediate labor management disputes, bolster employers’ legal compliance and reduce the overall absconding rate.
Workforce Management Agency (勞動力發展署) division head Su Yu-kuo (蘇裕國) said the quota expansion must be rolled out in phases to improve management.
Phase 1 would include opening 7,000.
Phase 2 could be implemented within one year if the absconding rate drops to 8 percent, adding 7,000 more slots.
The final phase of the remaining 6,000 slots could be implemented once the absconding rate drops to 6.8 percent.
Committee members recognize the need for labor on farmlands and sectors such as dairy and raising livestock, but data show that the absconding rate for agricultural migrant workers is 9 percent, significantly higher than the overall average of 3 percent for all contract migrant workers in Taiwan, Su said.
For Phase 1, the agriculture ministry has introduced adjustments, which are expected to affect about 2,300 workers, Su said, adding that new sectors would be open to migrant workers, such as beekeeping, organic farming and integrated crop-livestock management, Su said.
The needs of employers in agricultural sectors should be addressed through new openings and quota increases to encourage employers to hire people legally, he said.
Meanwhile, Ministry of Labor officials also provided updates on other sectors, including the recent approval of a proposal to hire more foreign fishery workers.
Quotas would be based on the number of registered crew members, to delineate foreign workers from fishery employees who are Taiwanese, they said.
Fireworks manufacturing would also be reclassified as “chemical product manufacturing,” which would allow the sector to hire migrant laborers at a 15 percent ratio and recruit foreign skilled workers, they said.
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