TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan will ease employment regulations to allow for the entry of 28,000 additional migrant workers as soon as mid-June to address its worker shortage.

On Tuesday (May 23), the Ministry of Labor (MOL) announced it will relax regulations employing migrant workers in the following industries: manufacturing, construction, agriculture, and caregiving. The sectors will be allotted 600, 8,000, 12,000, and 14,000 extra workers, respectively.

The "notice period" for adjusting the qualifications for hiring migrant workers will last until May 30.

In the manufacturing industry, there will be 210 companies eligible for the relaxed rules, including 142 aquatic product processing companies, 37 tofu manufacturing firms, and 31 shipbuilders. The MOL plans to increase the allocation ratio of foreign migrant workers from 15% to 20%.

For the construction industry, the new rules will be applied to construction businesses, professional construction companies, and civil engineering contractors that have handled a minimum number of cases and Taiwanese workers over the past three years. These companies can hire migrant workers at a ratio of 30%, and the employment stability fee could increase that number to 40%.

For the agricultural sector, the number of incoming migrant workers will increase from 6,000 to 12,000. This will increase the ratio of migrant workers to local workers employed by individual farmers or small-sized farming operators with less than 10 people from 35% to 50%. The 35% ratio would remain the same for public institutions and large-scale farmers.

As for caregiving, an additional 14,000 workers will be hired. The ratios of one caregiver per three residents in social welfare institutions, one caregiver per five residents at long-term care facilities, and one caregiver per care recipient for live-in caregiving will not change.