The Ministry of Labor announced today (5th) that it has officially signed a "Memorandum of Understanding on the Direct Employment Program" with the Philippines, which will expand the categories of direct employment jobs from the original manufacturing industry to institutional care, offshore and domestic fishing, and agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry. It will also add language and skills training thresholds for technical manpower. In addition, technical manpower will be officially included in the scope of direct employment. The first wave will focus on the tourism and accommodation industry. If there is subsequent opening demand in other industries, my country will also maintain increased flexibility.
Huang Lingyu, director of the Workforce Development Administration of the Ministry of Labor, held a press conference today and announced that this afternoon, Taiwan and the Philippines had signed the "Memorandum of Understanding on the Direct Employment Program in Taiwan between the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines and the Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taiwan" at the Ministry of Labor this afternoon. The signing was made by Zhou Mingan, representative of the Chinese Representative Office in the Philippines, and Corazon A. Padiernos) signed on behalf of both parties, and was jointly attended by Chen Mingren, Undersecretary of the Department of Labor and Jainal T. Rasul Jr., Undersecretary of the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) of the Philippines.
Huang Lingyu said that the new version of the memorandum signed this time has three major focuses, including expanding direct employment categories, cooperating in language and skills training, and introducing foreign technical manpower.
First, expand the current categories of direct employment project workers to include "institutional caregivers," "offshore and domestic fishing workers," and "agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry," breaking through the past restrictions on direct recruitment of institutional caregivers because they belong to vulnerable groups. In addition, in the future, both parties may agree to add new job categories applicable to the direct employment program in Taiwan based on my country's industrial demand and the Philippines' labor supply situation.
Second, considering that most of the subsequent direct recruitment needs are professional and technical manpower, this MOU also requires that the language and skills training of Filipino workers must meet the standards. The MOU clearly stipulates that Taiwan and the Philippines should cooperate in the language and skills training and ability of Filipino workers.
Huang Lingyu explained that the language demand for Filipino workers mainly lies in the establishment of a bilateral language and skills cooperation mechanism. We provide course outlines and skill conditions, and the Philippines plans exclusive training courses through its national training institution. Since the Philippines is an English-speaking country, people coming to Taiwan can enter Taiwan with English proficiency. There is no need to obtain Chinese language certification before coming to Taiwan. They only need to pass the Chinese Testing (TOCFL) listening or speaking A2 level certification within 3 years after entry. As for the skills recognition of technical manpower, it does not adopt a single examination system, but adopts multiple recognition methods, including relevant academic qualifications, work experience certificates, internship experience or skills tests.
Third, for the tourism and accommodation industry that has been open to hiring overseas technical manpower, this time in the Taiwan-Philippines MOU, technical manpower has also been officially included in the scope of direct recruitment. Huang Lingyu said that by the end of October, about 90 hotel and accommodation operators had applied for special talent recruitment projects, with a demand for about 900 people. The Ministry of Labor hopes to recruit outstanding Filipino talents from overseas through country-to-country institutional channels, so as to relieve the pressure of labor shortages in domestic tourism and accommodation industries.
However, today only the two sides signed the MOU. The Ministry of Labor said that after the signing, the Philippines and the Philippines need to complete the internal administrative procedures of the two countries before it can take effect. Taiwan needs to send it to the Executive Yuan for review, and the official implementation timetable has not yet been determined. Huang Lingyu emphasized that Taiwan adopts a diversified and parallel strategy for labor sources. In addition to the Philippines, it is also simultaneously negotiating with Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and other countries. That is, it is simultaneously negotiating with the four source countries, and the governments of the four countries have agreed to adopt G2G to expand open direct employment.
