This project studies the impacts of international migration on socio-economic development in Taiwan and the best responses. We analyze the trends of international migration and the government policy of some foreign countries. In addition, we focus on the cross-border movement of professional person (especially science and technology, management and medical personnel), the introduction of foreign low-skilled workers, as well as the increase in the number of women moved to their spouses and other international population movements.
The following instructions were the main findings. The cross-border movement of domestic professionals The study found that under international competition and increasing number of elderly people, the United States, Britain, Canada and other advanced countries, as well as nearby South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and other countries have made more favorable immigration policies to attract high-tech talent. In recent years the high-level professionals are given a more relaxed stay limitations by the government as well as a simplify the tax rates, the government also offer an active summer tax agreements signed with other countries to ease the tax burden on expatriates. However, the proportion of foreign high-level professionals come to Taiwan are limited. This may result from the large proportion of SMEs in our economy where firms operating in a smaller scale which is not easy to attract foreign professionals. In addition, domestic business owners have less incentive to pay high salaries for hiring foreign professionals. When foreign countries actively recruit foreign talent, our professional outflows are much larger than the inflow. In particular, a lot of emigration to China has negative impacts on the competitiveness of our industry. The introduction of foreign grass-roots level of human Owing to the government regulation, the demand for foreign workers cannot be fully met.Firms import foreign workers and foreign investment at the same time.Therefore, the data shows foreign investment was positively correlated with the number of foreign workers.However, the relation between change in the number of foreign workers and foreign investment was negative.It means, when the foreign workers increase, the outward industry will be ease. As the R&D intensity increased, the labor productivity would be improved, while the foreign investment relative to domestic investment ratio increases, labor productivity would be decreased.Thus, to increase R&D intensity is the key factor to enhance industrial competitiveness.If the growth rate of foreign investment is lower than the growth rate of domestic investment, then increase in foreign investment will not hurt labor productivity.It is one of the global layout strategies. According to Executive Yuan’s initial planning, the foreign nursing labor policy will be unchanged.But the family who use foreign nursing labor can only apply for in-kind payments.Whether foreign nursing labor will be replaced by domestic labor depends on the substitution between cash payment and in kind payment.Under the current regime, domestic nursing labors still facing working hours, employment costs, job content challenge that come from foreign nursing labors.Foreign nursing labors are not easy to be replaced. This study also explored the consuming and saving behavior of foreign workers in Taiwan.The results indicated that the majority of foreign workers will remit their income to home countries and cause Taiwan’s loss of foreign exchange.However, most of the foreign workers in Taiwan recognize Taiwanese brands and will continue to use the Taiwanese products after they return.It will improve Taiwan’s international marketing. The Increase in the Number of Immigrant Spouses Another issue addressed by this study is the employment status of immigrant spouses, as well as their impact on the labor market and on the long-term care system, the problems that these women have in adjusting to Taiwanese culture, and the problems relating to the education of their children. As regards employment, the jobs that immigrant spouses take on are usually low-paid jobs that most Taiwanese would be unwilling to perform, so from this point of view the presence of these women in Taiwan helps to mitigate the shortage of low-skilled labor. However, more needs to be done to ensure that their basic rights as workers are protected. For many immigrant spouses, the need to stay home to do housework and look after the children or the husband’s parents is the main reason for not being able to go out to work. Even when they do try to find work, limited availability of jobs and difficulty in finding information about what jobs are available can make it difficult to actually find employment. With regard to the Project for Assisting Foreign and Mainland Spouses with Employment, the results obtained in the present study showed that it is rare for immigrant spouses to actively seek help from government agencies, and relatively few have taken advantage of the assistance provided under the Project. Even so, most immigrant spouses expressed a wish for more assistance from the government with respect to finding job opportunities. Recently, the government has relaxed the restrictions applying to immigrant spouses from mainland China seeking employment in Taiwan. Not being allowed to work in Taiwan is no longer the main obstacle preventing immigrant spouses from working; other factors are now more important. There is a clear need for the government to formulate additional ancillary measures; simply lifting the restrictions on immigrant spouses from mainland China working in Taiwan will, on its own, produce only limited results. As regards the impact of immigrant spouses on human resources availability in the care industry, encouraging immigrant spouses to work in the care industry should help to ease the manpower shortages in this industry, and reduce Taiwan’s dependence on foreign contract labor in this regard. However, many care homes and families prefer to employ care-givers who have professional certification, and immigrant spouses generally find it difficult or impossible to obtain such certification, either because of their legal status or because of the language barrier. As a result, the number of jobs available to immigrant spouses in the care industry is currently relatively limited. If the government wishes to encourage immigrant spouses to work in this field, it will need to find some solution to the problems that currently discouraging these women from working in this industry. While the increase in the number of immigrant spouses may go some way towards mitigating the problem of an aging population due to Taiwan’s falling birth rate, in the long term, it may also reduce the percentage of native-born Taiwanese women who are able to marry and have children. Furthermore, as more immigrant spouses reach the age where they are no longer able to have children, the mitigation effect will gradually become less pronounced. As regards cultural adjustment by immigrant spouses and the issues relating to the education of their children, although the relevant government agencies have adopted a series of measures to combat these problems, given that these problems relate to cultural differences, cultural fusion and the preconceptions that many people in Taiwan have regarding international marriages, it is unlikely that a comprehensive solution will be found to these problems in the near future.