Staff writer, with CNAThe number of unaccounted-for migrant workers declined to 18,209 last year, or 2.78 percent of the total, a record low since 2003, according to Ministry of Labor statistics released on Thursday. The number of foreign workers who are unaccounted for remained stable at between 3 and 4 percent for a number of years. While the total number of foreign workers reached 676,142 last year, the number of unaccounted- for workers dropped to a record low of 2.78 percent of the total, the statistics showed. Ministry Workforce Development Agency official Hsueh Chien-chung (薛鑑忠) attributed the decline to the introduction of an amendment to the Employment Services Act (就業服務法), which removed the requirement for migrant workers to leave Taiwan every three years, along with the government’s intensified operations against illegal and absconding workers. As of last year, the number of missing migrant workers totaled 52,317, with Vietnamese workers registering the highest rate at 5.12 percent, followed by Indonesians at 2.91 percent and Filipinos and Thais at 0.37 percent each.

Source: Taipei Times February 23, 2018 15:56 UTC