TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A committee of the Ministry of Labor (MOL) on Thursday (July 7) recommended a 17% increase in the monthly minimum wage for foreign domestic caregivers, marking the first pay raise for this category of migrant workers in seven years.

At a meeting of MOL's Employment Security Fund Management Committee, members pointed out that although Taiwan's monthly minimum wage has increased on an annual basis to its current level of NT$25,250, the monthly wage for home-based migrant workers has not been adjusted from the NT$17,000, which was set in 2015. This means the gap between the monthly salaries of blue-collar workers and caregivers has reached NT$8,250.

Those present said such a low wage is affecting Taiwan's international image and forces caregivers to consider changing employers or fleeing their bosses and becoming undocumented workers. With these factors in mind, the committee agreed on a recommendation that MOL should raise the monthly minimum wage for home-based migrant caregivers from NT$17,000 to NT$20,000 "as soon as possible," according to a MOL statement.

After the meeting, the committee requested that MOL's Workforce Development Agency devise a plan as soon as possible that would provide "reasonable salary adjustment measures" for migrant domestic caregivers and to propose supporting measures to subsidize economically disadvantaged families.

In recent years, the countries of origin of migrant workers have put forward demands for salary increases for domestic caregivers. In 2020, Indonesia proposed a policy that called on employers of migrant workers to cover part of the recruitment costs for their foreign employees.

In addition, many sectors of society, such as the Control Yuan, domestic and overseas migrant labor organizations, and international human rights reports have strongly advocated for an increase in the wages for domestic migrant caregivers.

Due to the pandemic, the number of migrant workers entering Taiwan has decreased, and the salary gap between home-based migrant caregivers and industrial migrant workers has led some caregivers to switch to the industrial sector to earn higher wages or even flee from their employers, impacting the rights and interests of employers. "'It is indeed necessary to make a reasonable adjustment of foreign domestic caregivers' wages," MOL said.

According to government statistics, there are about 675,903 migrant workers in Taiwan, including 219,295 foreign domestic caregivers. Among these caregivers, Indonesians comprise the largest group at 160,000.