The Ministry of Labor announced its plans to allow seniors who are 85 years and older with slight disabilities to hire foreign caregivers. The new policy will begin in August and should allow an additional 35,000 to be eligible for foreign caregivers.
But local elderly care organization are protesting the new policy as it would hurt job opportunities for middle-aged women. They say the new policy would make 85-year olds who have a hard time climbing stairs eligible. That would give many more people 24-hour household maids.
But labor official Lai Jia-ren said that 85 year olds are considered old elderly persons and there are not enough caregivers to take care of them.
"We’ve taken into consideration that our long-term care system is still developing and is not comprehensive. The needs of these disabled elderly cannot be met under our current system. After careful consideration, the labor ministry decided to loosen requirements to hire foreign caregivers to respond to those families’ needs," said Lai.
Lai said that the ministry would also work to provide more job opportunities for middle-aged women returning to the workforce.