It is the first increase granted by the Taiwan government since 2015. The DMW Secretary Susan Ople said the wages will be increased especially for caregivers and domestic workers, who are 25,867 overseas Filipino workers out of a total of 147,940 working in Taiwan.
However, the hike in wages is relevant only for the newly hired, transferred and re-hired workers. These segments of foreign workers will now receive at least 20 thousand New Taiwan Dollars (NTD) monthly increasing from 17 thousand. The Taiwanese Ministry of Labor also advised employers to increase the workers’ salaries after three and six years in service (in each case by one thousand NTD), in order to achieve workers retention. Susan Ople also hopes that the household workers with existing contracts can benefit from increase of salaries in the future, considering their excellent and reliable service.
Ms. Ople also assured that the overseas Filipino workers living and working closest to China (such as the Kinmen islands) are safe. Concerns for their safety were sparked by the drills conducted by the Chinese military close to the Taiwanese territory and in general by the growing tensions between China and Taiwan. The DMW is in touch with its labor attaches in Taiwan to keep an eye on the Filipino community in Taiwan in case of further escalation.