The Ministry of Labor yesterday promised to find solutions after more than 300,000 women left their jobs last year citing family commitments.
The ministry was originally scheduled to present a report to the Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee, but lawmakers expressed concern over a labor shortage across all sectors and that about 330,000 women left their jobs last year to care for elderly people or children.
The government continues to ignore practical problems facing female workers amid its struggle to address a labor shortage, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
“I have been monitoring this issue for two to three years, and the Ministry of Labor should quickly propose potential solutions and discuss them with other government agencies, such as providing more flexible maternity and parental leave rules,” Hung said.
“So far, the ministry has not offered any proposals on the issues,” he said.
The ministry should be more aggressive in finding ways to reduce the number of women leaving jobs for family reasons, as it would significantly ease demand for migrant workers, he said.
Minister of Labor Hsu Ming-chun (許銘春) said that the rate of departure from the workforce to take care of family members was indeed high among women.
The ministry is implementing measures to help women balance work and family commitments, Hsu said.
“However, this is a thorny issue that cannot be resolved by the labor ministry alone,” she said. “It must be resolved through a cross-departmental effort led by ministers without portfolio at the Executive Yuan.”
The ministry has tapped labor experts to study the issue, Hsu said, adding that it would propose solutions in three months based on the results of the research.
A survey conducted by the National Development Council in 2021 showed that the labor force participation rate among women aged 25 to 39 exceeded 80 percent.
The labor force participation rate was 89.9 percent among women aged 25 to 29, compared with 75.5 percent in South Korea, 86.9 percent in Japan and 76.8 percent in the US, the survey showed.
However, the labor force participation rate for women aged 55 to 59 was 45.4 percent, compared with about 60 percent in the US and South Korea, and 70 percent in Japan, it showed.
Separately, Hsu denied that the government would recruit 100,000 migrant workers from India to address a labor shortage.
“Such reports are not accurate and have intentionally spread panic,” she told reporters on the sidelines of the committee meeting. “We urge people not to fall for traps set amid [Chinese] cognitive warfare” targeting Taiwan.
People have complained on the ministry’s Facebook page, saying that a memorandum of understanding signed with India was opening the door to migrant workers from the nation.
Some said that the policy would elevate crime rates in Taiwan.
“We have not yet signed the MOU with India, nor have we finalized the terms of the agreement,” Hsu said. “The public can be assured that the ministry would protect Taiwan and our workers, and would communicate this issue with people who have different views about the policy.”
With Taiwan projected to be an “ultra-aged” society by 2025, the ministry has been seeking new sources of migrant workers to address labor shortages, she said, adding that lawmakers across party lines agree that the government should diversify risk and avoid relying too much on a few countries.
“Migrant workers, whether they are caregivers or factory staff, should be treated equally. Discrimination would damage diplomatic ties with affected countries and hurt the nation’s image,” she said.
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