At a foreign labor policy review scheduled for next Monday, the CLA is planning to propose the loosening of quota for foreigners in so-called 3K jobs, from the Japanese words kitsui, difficult, kitanai, dirty, and kiken, dangerous. A reform of the proportions of foreign workers allowed in factories in general was also on the cards, reports said..

The changes will not lead to an overall increase in the number of foreign workers employed in Taiwan, but will only result in a redistribution within factories and industrial sectors, the CLA said.

At present, the proportions for foreign workers inside a company are fixed at 15 percent, 18 percent and 20 percent. Under the CLA proposals, the upper limit will be raised to 35 percent, but the lower limit will also drop to 10 percent, which could eventually lead to a fall in the number of foreign workers in sectors popular with local jobseekers.

The new five-tier system will have proportions set at 10 percent, 15 percent, 20 percent, 25 percent and 35 percent of the workforce.

In large enterprises which counted between 1,000 and 3,000 employees covered by labor insurance, the number of foreign workers would drop by 2 percent, and at companies with more than 3,000 employees, by 3 percent, the CLA said.

Following signs of an imminent economic revival, employers have been clamoring for rises in the maximum amounts of foreign workers they can put to work, reports said.

The CLA was going back on a promise though to allow any household where both parents were older than 80 to employ a foreign domestic helper, reports said.

After the suggestion emerged last year, social groups and lawmakers protested because they feared the liberalization would affect job opportunities for local maids, nurses and teachers.