Around 124,000 Filipinos working in factories in Taiwan will benefit from the increase of monthly salaries for all workers imposed by the Taiwanese government.
Silvestre Bello III, chairman of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taiwan, said the Taiwanese government approved a 4.05 percent increase in the monthly minimum wage for workers in the industrial sector, including migrants, which will take effect on January 1 next year.
Those who are yet to be hired before the said date will also be entitled to the new wage rates, Bello added.
"On September 13, 2023, the Taiwan ministry of labor announced that the Cabinet has approved its proposed increase in the monthly minimum wage effective next year," he said.
According to the MECO chief, the policy will benefit the 124,265 Filipino factory workers in Taiwan. The live-in migrant caregivers and household service workers are not covered, he added.
From NT$26,400 (P46,910), the monthly minimum pay will be increased to NT$27,470 (P48,812) starting next year. Meanwhile, the basic hourly rate is raised from NT$176 (P312) to NT$183 (P325).
Bello, a former Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) chief, said the wage increase came to help industrial workers cope with the surging inflation and higher costs of basic necessities.
The Taiwanese Labor Ministry's Wage Committee believed that company owners and employers should share a fairer proportion of economic growth to their employees and workers who in one way or another contributed to the growth and development of the industry in Taiwan, Bello said.
"The Ministry hopes that increasing working-class income will boost productivity and that the increased minimum wages will provide for the basic living necessities of marginal workers as well as spur domestic consumption and economic growth, thereby creating a win-win situation for both labor and management," Bello said, quoting the labor ministry announcement.