Migrant workers employed in Taiwan’s manufacturing and construction sectors earned more than NT$30,000 (US$982) a month on average in 2022, while migrant domestic caregivers earned NT$21,000 a month, the Ministry of Labor (MOL) said Monday.
The average wage received by migrant workers in the industrial sector increased NT$1,762, or 5.8 percent, from a year earlier to NT$32,303 in 2022, the MOF said, citing a survey of employers of industrial workers and domestic caregivers conducted in July and August.
According to the MOL, the gains reflected a 5.21 percent increase in the minimum wage for local workers in Taiwan in 2022 to NT$25,250.
Of the average monthly earnings for migrant workers in the industrial sector, regular salary was NT$26,066, up 5.9 percent from 2021, while overtime pay averaged NT$5,619, up 4.1 percent year-over-year, MOL figures showed.
About 42 percent of the surveyed manufacturers applied to add overseas migrant workers to their workforces in 2022, while 24 percent said they did not fill their quota for adding migrant workers, mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and cost considerations, the MOL said.
In 2022, the average number of working hours for industrial migrant workers fell one hour a month from a year earlier to 203.1 hours, with regular working hours averaging 167.6 hours and overtime working hours averaging 35.5 hours, down 0.1 hours and 0.9 hours, respectively, the MOL said.
The survey, which received 4,573 valid questionnaires from employers in the manufacturing and construction sectors, found that 34.7 percent of industrial sectors employers had trouble managing migrant workers.
Their biggest headache, according to the survey, was difficulties communicating because of the language barrier, the MOF said.
Migrant caregivers, who are not covered by Taiwan’s minimum wage standard, received average earnings of NT$20,533 a month in 2022, up 1.6 percent from a year earlier, the MOL said, based on 4,007 valid questionnaires received from employers of migrant caregivers.
That included regular salary of NT$17,961 in 2022, up 2.3 percent from a year earlier, and overtime pay of NT$2,135 a month, down NT$47 year-on-year, the MOL found.
According to the MOL survey, migrant caregivers worked an average of 10 hours a day, and 49.4 percent of surveyed employers said their caregivers took days off during holidays or parts of holidays.
Surveyed employers whose caregivers did not take days off said it was because the caregivers wanted to earn more overtime, the MOL said.
When their caregivers took days off, 74 percent of employers had alternatives set up, most of the time involving family members taking the caregivers’ place.
Of the caregiver employers surveyed, about 21 percent said they also had trouble with their overseas employees, citing difficulties communicating and the workers spending too much time on their phones.
As of the end of November 2022, Taiwan had a total of 505,959 industrial migrant workers and 201,406 migrant domestic caregivers, according to the MOL.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel