1Brokerage Fees, Missing Workers and Nation-to-nation Bilateral Recruitment Agreements: The Case of Taiwan

As compared to its performance in the previous year, economic conditions in Taiwan deteriorated considerably in 2005; and indeed the economic forecast for 2006 suggests only a very slight improvement on 2005. Furthermore, although the unemployment rate did improve somewhat over the past twelve months, no significant improvement is expected in 2006. New policies on the employment of foreign workers in Taiwan are planned for 2006, including the importation of a further 20,000 low-skilled foreign workers, and a probable increase in the number of foreign healthcare workers allowed into Taiwan. Although the government has tried to negotiate with labor-sending countries in an attempt to resolve the issue of excessive referral fees for foreign workers, current experiences reveal that this is not really a valid alternative, since other agencies are involvedas ‘middlemen’, making true nation-to-nation recruitment almost impossible. Taiwan has also seen the adoption of a more liberal immigration policy by its government in recent years; however, whilst the rise in the number of foreign spouses immigrating into Taiwan does have some positive effects on population growth, and on the overall labor supply in Taiwan, it also has potentially negative effects. The government needs to recognize these potentially negative effects and take action to prevent their occurrence