To alleviate a labor shortage in the hospitality industry, the Tourism Administration is planning to collaborate with the Ministry of Labor to bring in more migrant workers. The demand for workers is rising, and the hospitality and service sectors are asking for more foreigners to cope with it.
Meanwhile, Taiwan is set to sign a memorandum of understanding on labor cooperation with India, aiming to bring in Indian migrant workers to fill the labor gap in the industries. This has attracted much attention and triggered a series of debates.
The number of migrant workers has been increasing rapidly, rising to about 728,000 by the end of last year. Bringing in migrant workers might alleviate the labor shortage in the short term, but if the number keeps increasing without any restrictions, it would not only limit job opportunities, but also worsen the problem of low wages.
Consequently, it would seriously affect Taiwan’s labor market in the long run. Bringing in as many migrant workers as possible might not be the best policy.
Taiwan is to become a super-aged society in 2025, the National Development Council says.
People older than 65 would soon account for 25 percent of the nation’s population. The structure of the labor force would change accordingly. Since many middle-aged and elderly people still have the ability and willingness to continue to work, there is a large pool of idle labor that could be utilized.
The problem is that although middle-aged and elderly people are able to make up for part of the labor force gap, most employers are reluctant to hire them. In the manufacturing, general services, wholesale and retail industries, where the wages are lower than in other industries, the willingness to employ them is the lowest.
In addition to the reluctance to hire such workers, there are fewer opportunities for them to be transferred to other posts. Worse, middle-aged and elderly employees could easily be laid off when businesses experience times of difficulty. They also face stricter reward terms and penalties. Clearly, the current workplace environment is unfriendly to and even discriminatory against middle-aged and elderly people.
This attitude should change. Adjustments and improvements should be made by redesigning jobs and setting up flexible schedules. The purpose is to create a safe and friendly workplace for the disadvantaged. That way, middle-aged and elderly people would be more willing to seek employment opportunities and give full play to their value again.
In this regard, the government can provide vocational retraining for middle-aged and elderly workers to enhance their vocational skills and competitiveness. Job matching mechanisms and other measures such as employment incentives for corporations should be put in place.
The serious labor shortage in Taiwan can hardly be solved overnight, and it depends on the joint efforts of the government, industry and middle-aged and elderly workers.
Dino Wei is an information engineer in Yilan County.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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