30,000 jobs await Pinoy workers in Taiwan

MANILA, Philippines - At least 30,000 jobs still await Filipino workers in Taiwan, local recruiters reported yesterday.

Jackson Gan, Pilipino Manpower Association of Taiwan Inc. (PILMAT) president, said factories in Taiwan are still in dire need of Filipinos and other foreign workers.

“Companies in Taiwan continue to hire workers and we have thousands of job orders that are yet to be filled up until this time,” Gan said.

He said Taiwan has bounced back from last year’s financial crisis and is hiring more workers than in past years.

However, Gan said local recruiters are having difficulty recruiting skilled workers to fill up the vacancies because of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) secretary-general’s warning that the forging of an economic cooperation agreement between Taiwan and China would adversely affect the employment of OFWs.

Gan stressed that NEDA’s fear is baseless since Taiwanese employers still prefer Filipinos compared to other workers from other countries.

He said Taiwan hires an average of 40,000 Filipino workers, including factory workers and caregivers annually.

“Although Taiwan companies hire Vietnamese and Indonesians, OFWs still have the advantage because they can speak the English language unlike other nationalities,” he said.

Gan emphasized that Taiwanese electronics manufacturing companies are not warm to the idea of hiring Chinese mainlanders.

“NEDA is sounding an alarm without basis that could jeopardize the country’s economic stability. Its warning that thousands of OFWs may lose jobs is far-fetched,” he stressed.

While the investment climate in China is now more liberal, Gan said there is little indication that the electronic manufacturing sector will transfer to China due to national security concerns.

He said the electronics sector is not among the 99 industries and business lines that Taiwan would like to liberalize.