By Sidhima Choudhary
Under a 2024 agreement with New Delhi, Taiwan will be recruiting 1000 Indian workers for this summer. This decision was made amidst the recruitment talks with northeastern states to manage labour shortages in its domestic industries.
In this process, higher preference will be given to workers from India’s Northeastern states as they share a similar culture and are easier to assimilate. The talks with northeastern states like Assam, Nagaland, and Mizoram are in the early stages. Recruitments regarding the same will begin soon.
The recruiters need to be well-versed in English, as it will be essential in the programme and in orientation sessions conducted by Indian authorities in collaboration with Taiwanese companies, before the selected workers depart.
Taiwan is set to recruit Indian blue-collar workers under the February 2024 agreement. The jobs will vary from different sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture and construction. The main reason for this recruitment seems to be India’s aging population and lower birth rates, claims sources. The agreement states that India will recruit and train workers until Taiwan decides the duration of the programme. The workers will be assigned to specific sectors after proper paperwork has been established.
After the initial meeting with the Taiwanese officials in February, officials met in Taipei in November 2024 to discuss further details and make a concrete plan. This meeting involved the discussion of wages and the period of employment. This was followed by a meeting in November where both countries agreed on allowing 5% direct hiring by the local businesses and hence they set up a possibility for the same.
According to data published by the Taiwanese authorities in 2024, Taiwan claims to host over 700,000 migrant workers with people varying from diverse countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.