The Ministry of Labor yesterday said it is proposing amendments to allow international students who graduated from Taiwanese universities to work as city and highway bus drivers, as well as in five other medium-level technical jobs.
The proposals would be open for public input at the end of the month, the ministry said.
International students, including those of Chinese and Taiwanese descent, could be an important source of labor to support the nation’s dwindling workforce. The National Development Council said that Taiwan could face a shortage of 400,000 workers by 2030.
Photo: Huang Liang-chieh, Taipei Times
Last year, the labor ministry allowed international students to stay in Taiwan and work as housekeeping staff to address a labor shortage in the hotel and accommodation industry. However, no one applied as the Tourism Administration has yet to provide training.
The ministry said it would propose amendments to labor regulations to ease restrictions on the recruitment of international students in medium-level technical jobs, after the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications and the Ministry of Economic Affairs identified jobs that need to be filled.
They include assistant caregivers in hospitals, storage and warehouse management personnel, cargo vehicle drivers, cargo driving assistants, and drivers and safety management system (SMS) personnel for highway and city bus services.
The proposed amendments would include salary thresholds and qualifications for the jobs. Salaries for drivers and SMS personnel for highway and city bus services must be at least NT$50,000 per month, while the wages for assistant caregivers, storage and warehouse personnel, cargo vehicle drivers and cargo driving assistants would start at NT$34,000, NT$39,000, NT$43,000 and NT$43,000 respectively.
The Ministry of Labor said that about 25,000 to 35,000 assistant caregivers are needed.
As of November last year, the nation needed 2,453 highway and city bus drivers, the Highway Bureau said, adding that it could recruit 613 international students to fill some of the roles.
Meanwhile, the nation needs about 200 SMS personnel, 30 of whom could be recruited from international students.
Under the proposals, 2,309 international students could be recruited to fill the 9,234 available cargo vehicle driver positions. The number of driving assistants needed as well as the number of international students that needed to be recruited are the same as the cargo vehicle drivers.
To qualify as cargo vehicle drivers, cargo driving assistants, bus drivers or SMS personnel for highway and city bus services, international students must have at least an associate’s degree or higher, the bureau said.
They must also pass Mandarin-language proficiency tests, undergo certain hours of language and technical training, and secure required certificates, it added.
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
The Chinese wife of a Taiwanese, surnamed Liu (劉), who openly advocated for China’s use of force against Taiwan, would be forcibly deported according to the law if she has not left Taiwan by Friday, National Immigration Agency (NIA) officials said yesterday. Liu, an influencer better known by her online channel name Yaya in Taiwan (亞亞在台灣), obtained permanent residency via marriage to a Taiwanese. She has been reported for allegedly repeatedly espousing pro-unification comments on her YouTube and TikTok channels, including comments supporting China’s unification with Taiwan by force and the Chinese government’s stance that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China.” Liu
FATE UNKNOWN: The owner of the dog could face a fine of up to NT$150,000 and the animal could be euthanized if he cannot show that he can effectively supervise it A pit bull terrier has been confiscated by authorities after it yesterday morning bit a motorcyclist in Taipei, following footage of the same dog in a similar attack going viral online earlier this month. When the owner, surnamed Hsu (徐), stopped at a red light on Daan District’s (大安) Wolong Street at 8am, the dog, named “Lucky,” allegedly rolled down the automatic window of the pickup truck they were riding in, leapt out of the rear passenger window and attacked a motorcyclist behind them, Taipei’s Daan District Police Precinct said. The dog clamped down on the man’s leg and only let go
RSS