Influence of Taiwan's Migrant Retention and Long-Term Utilization Initiatives: A Case Study of Vietnamese and Philippine Migrant Workers

Abstract

Abstract This study reveals that Taiwan Manpower Agencies have a beneficial impact on Taiwan's "Long-term Retention of Skilled Foreign Workers Program". Since the introduction of migrant workers in 1989, Taiwan's migrant worker population has surpassed 730,000. Initiated on April 30, 2022, the program has progressively relaxed its eligibility criteria to align with Taiwan's permanent residency system and future immigration policies. While around 208,000 individuals meet the criteria for the program, only 6,643 approvals have been granted as of April 30, 2023, resulting in a success rate of 3.2% only. The results demonstrate that the willingness of migrant workers to participate in the program correlates with factors such as their possession of professional licenses and their awareness of policy channels. The acquisition of professional licenses also correlates with their age and familiarity with policy channels. Over 40% of them rely on manpower agencies as their primary source of policy information, confirming that most eligible migrant workers prefer manpower agencies assisted for smoother application procedures. Taiwan's government can entrust manpower agencies to handle the promotion of the program. This approach is likely to yield more substantial results than the current practice of independent applications by employers and migrant workers. JEL classification numbers: F22, J61. Keywords: Skilled, Immigration, Foreign workers, Human resources, Retaining talent, Long-term use, Intermediate migrant workers.