The Council of Labour Affairs (CLA) of Taiwan reported updates on foreign labour situations in Taiwan that as at the end of October 2011 there are 420,931 foreign workers in Taiwan, which is the highest record in history. Among these workers, 172,068 are Indonesians, accounted for 40% of all foreign workers, Vietnamese workers come in the second place at 93,870 (22%), the third is Filipino at 82,850 (19.7%), and Thai workers come in the fourth place at 72,138 (17.13%).
The CLA categorizes foreign workforce in Taiwan into those in the manufacturing sector (plants and construction sites) and those in the social welfare sector (e.g. caretaker). In the manufacturing sector, the total number of foreign workers is 224,176. Thai workers come in the first place at 71,020, and the second is Filipino at 59,492. In the social welfare sector, the total number of foreign workers is 196,755. Indonesians come in the first place at 145,981, the second is Vietnamese at 26,297, Filipino at 23,358, and Thai at 1,118.
The area with the highest number of foreign workers is Taoyuan, as the city hosts a lot of industrial estates, with 73,520 foreign workers (17.5%). The second place is Taipei with 59,588 workers and the third is Taichung with 57,061 workers.
As for Thai workers: in the manufacturing sector most Thai workers, 21,209 of them, work in Taoyuan. Among these, 21,045 workers work in plants and construction sites and 164 workers work as caretakers. Taichung comes in the second place at 11,658 and the third is Taipei at 9,018. In the social welfare sector, the cities in which most Thai work are Taipei, New Taipei, and Taichung, respectively.
On the issue of workers escaping from employers, Vietnamese workers rank the highest, with approximately half of workers escape. As a result at present the CLA bans Vietnamese workers from entering the country to work in the positions of fishery ship crew and caretakers. The ban would be revoked if the Vietnamese labour office cooperates in the investigation and repatriation of illegal Vietnamese workers at the rate of 500 workers per month for 3 months.
According to the statistics of the Taiwanese immigration office as at the end of September 2011, there are 31,912 foreign workers who escape from their employers, among these, 22,233 are female and 9,679 are male. Based on nationality, Vietnamese workers rank the highest for escaping workers at 15,308 workers, the second is Indonesians at 13,387, Filipino at 2,030, and Thai at 1,187 (20 are female and 976 are male).
