With the recent announcement that Taiwan will soon be implementing less-strict regulations for migrant domestic workers, it is worth considering what led to the problem of lacking adequate manpower in the area.
According to reports, a significant number of Taiwan domestic helpers are seeking employment in other countries for better pay and better working conditions.
Employment terms in Taiwan are also less than favorable compared with other Asian countries such as Japan and Hong Kong. An example of this would be the fact that Japan offers domestic caregivers with as much as $1,500 USD (the same rate as local workers) compared with Taiwan which only offers NT$17,000.
SEE ALSO: TAIWAN TO IMPORT MORE FOREIGN WORKERS AND TO IMPLEMENT LESS REGULATIONS
Based on local regulations, domestic workers in Taiwan mainly care for elderly or sick individuals but some employers require them to help out in the home as well. In Hong Kong, helpers exclusively do basic household chores only. So in short, domestic helpers are doing more work for less pay in Taiwan.
This is why employment agencies have gone as far as naming the nation as the least preferred destination for migrant workers coming from Southeast Asia. As of present time, majority of domestic helpers in the nation are Indonesians.
Fortunately for those hoping to get a job in Taiwan, the government has approved the decision to offer a bigger salary for migrant workers who are hired after September 2015.
This news, however, wasn’t well-received by employers and domestic helpers who have been working there for a long time already.
As an additional step towards luring in more new hires in the near future, we have mentioned in our previous blog that Taiwan has officially confirmed that they will be implementing less strict regulations beginning January 2016.
Let’s all keep our eyes peeled and see how this will affect the domestic worker industry in Taiwan in the long run.