Office of Labour Affairs in Taipei reports that “MOL Taiwan pushes forward legislation for reducing working hour to 40 hours/week

The labor ministry is set to promote new legislation that will introduce a 40-hour workweek next year. According to the record of Central Accountant and Statistic Office, Taiwan Administrative Council, it found that in 2013 Taiwan labours spent 177 working hours a week. A report by the government statistics office says that Taiwan’s service industry has longer-than-normal working hours and that the manufacturing industry often requires employees to work overtime. Also, Taiwan’s legal working hours currently are 84 hours every two weeks, which is higher than the 40-hour workweek in Japan, Korea and the United States . He said the government has mapped out a plan to shorten working hours, which is expected to be done in 2015. However, Labor rights activists are gearing up to hold a rally on May 1^st. Decreasing work hours is expected to be a major demand.