At least 147,873 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Taiwan will benefit from the new round of wage increases in 2023, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) announced on Saturday, Sept. 3.

“We welcome this development as this would greatly benefit our kababayans working in Taiwan, most especially those in the manufacturing sector,” said DMW Secretary Susan Ople.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Labor (MOL) recent wage order mandates the increase of Taiwan's minimum monthly and hourly wage by 4.55 percent and 4.76 percent, respectively, effective January 1, 2023.

Once implemented, the order will raise the monthly minimum wage from NT$ 25,250 (P46,860.40) to NT$ 26,400 (P48,994.70), and the basic hourly rate from NT$168( P311.78) to NT$176 (P326.63).

The recent wage adjustment in Taiwan went way back in January 2021, which increases the minimum salary of their workers, including OFWs from NT$23,800 to NT$24,000 (about P40,000) monthly minimum wage and an hourly salary of NT$160 (about P275) from NT$158.

According to the DMW, as of July 2022, there are 147,853 documented Filipino workers in Taiwan, apart from undocumented OFWs working there.

Of the figure, a total of 121,756 are in the productive industry, or working in factories, who are expected to benefit directly from the wage adjustment.


The DMW projects another 20,000 OFWs in this job category to be hired by December this year to make at least 150,000 or more will benefit from the new wage order.