TAIWAN’s hospitality industry will require about 6,600 workers in 2026, according to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in the Philippines.
Emilie Xung-Chieh Shao, director of the Political Division at TECO, told BusinessWorld by phone that Taiwan employers have been authorized to directly hire foreign workers to fill slots in the tourism and lodging industry.
“Taiwan has opened up employment opportunities for foreign skilled workers in the hospitality services sector, allowing employers to directly hire skilled workforce from overseas,” Ms. Shao said.
“The hospitality sector is expected to need approximately 6,600 workers in 2026,” she added.
Taiwan employers must first demonstrate a commitment to the island’s own workforce, according to Ms. Shao.
“Employers must increase the wages of their full-time Taiwanese employees to (before they can fill positions with) foreign skilled workers.”
For hospitality, the government reportedly set a salary threshold of 32,000 New Taiwan Dollars (approximately P57,000) for foreign skilled workers.
Taiwan has selected the Philippines as its primary partner for the program, having established its first overseas recruitment center in Manila.
The facility is designed to centralize critical operations, including direct government-to-government (G2G) recruitment and matching Filipino workers with verified employers in Taiwan.
“This direct G2G cross-border recruitment process between Taiwan and the Philippines will help ensure fair recruitment,” Ms. Shao said, noting that the system is designed to bypass third-party brokers and reduce the financial burden on workers.
Taiwan plans to open similar recruitment centers in other countries to diversify its sources of skilled labor, TECO said.
Taiwan faces a shrinking workforce due to an ageing population, prompting the government to overhaul its classification system for foreign hires from “intermediate skilled workers” to “foreign skilled workers.”
The Ministry of the Interior reported that Taiwan reached the “super-aged” threshold — where 20% of the population is aged 65 or older — at the end of 2025, citing United Nations and World Health Organization criteria.
As of late 2025, roughly 250,000 Filipinos live and work in Taiwan, according to the Department of Migrant Workers. — Erika Mae P. Sinaking
