TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s government plans to relax the threshold for applying for in-home care workers in a move that is predicted to allow up to 30,000 more migrant workers into the country.
Taiwan’s health and labor ministries discussed planned changes on Tuesday (Sept. 12), and decided on three categories of healthcare users for whom the application process would be relaxed, per CNA. The health ministry’s Director of Social and Family Affairs Chien Hui-chuan (簡慧娟) said the changes will likely affect 600,000 people needing the services.
Chien said that those who have used long-term care services for more than six months will be eligible to apply for a migrant care worker, as well as those who are deemed by a healthcare professional to have mild dementia symptoms. Eligibility criteria will also be relaxed for those with specific mental and or physical disabilities according to an existing scale.
On Sept. 6, the presidential candidate for the Taiwan People’s Party Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), a former physician, advocated for a more comprehensive evaluation system for applying for migrant carers. In late August, Kuomintang candidate Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) also called for the application threshold to be relaxed, which independent Terry Guo (郭台銘) said he supported.
Deputy Director of the Taipei Medical University’s Shuang-Ho Hospital Tsan-Hon Liou (劉燦宏) participated in Tuesday’s discussion and said that he supported broadening the assessment criteria from the currently used Barthel scale to include other measures. Liou said Barthel scale assessments, which measure an individual’s ability to live at home independently, must be conducted at a hospital, and are inconvenient for families.
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However, advocate for families with disabilities and employers of care workers Chang Heng-yen (張姮燕) cautioned against politicizing the issue. Chang said even if the application process was completely relaxed, there would likely still be a shortage of migrant workers if people from more countries than are currently allowed were permitted to fill the roles, per CNA.
Meanwhile, Taiwan International Workers' Association Chen Jung-jou (陳容柔) said the changes proposed by presidential candidates will not solve the need for long-term care. Chen said the policies advocated for by Hou and Ko may look good, but are designed to “buy votes.”
The focus needs to be placed on providing a stable workforce of long-term carers to solve problems facing the elderly, Chen said.
According to government statistics, as of July, there were 742,394 migrant workers in Taiwan, and around 227,000 were working as caregivers, with 172,000 Indonesian nationals making up the majority of that figure, followed by about 20,000 from the Philippines, and 27,000 from Vietnam.
Migrant workers are not protected by Taiwan’s Labor Standards Act and are often subjected to exploitation and poor working conditions. As of August 2022, the minimum wage for migrant caregivers was NT$20,000 (US$624).
Migrant caregivers usually live with the families of those they care for, and work an average of 10 hours per day. In addition, Labor ministry statistics show that nearly 75% of migrant caregivers reported not receiving any time off work on weekends or holidays.