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Insiders and outsiders: policy and care workers in Taiwan's long-term care system

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 November 2015

CHEN-FEN CHEN
CHEN-FEN CHEN*
Affiliation:
Department of Social Welfare, Chinese Culture University, Taiwan.
*
Address for correspondence: Chen-Fen Chen, Department of Social Welfare, Chinese Culture University, 55, Hwa Kang Road, Yang Ming Shan, Taipei 111, Taiwan, ROC E-mail: czf2@faculty.pccu.edu.tw
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Abstract

As in many developed countries, foreign care-givers have made up a short-term labour force to help shoulder the responsibilities of older adult care in Taiwan since 1992. This study uses the dual labour market and the occupational segregation theoretical frameworks and a mixed-method approach to examine whether foreign care-givers are supplementary or have replaced Taiwanese care-givers in Taiwan's long-term care (LTC) industry, and to understand better the status of care workers and their influx into the secondary labour market. As of 2012, 189,373 foreign workers joined the care services, compared to 7,079 Taiwanese, indicating they are no longer supplementary. The gap between the dual care system and workforce regulation has resulted in occupation segregation, and the secondary care labour market has been divided into ‘institutional’ and ‘home’ spheres, segregating care-givers into three levels: all Taiwanese care-givers, foreign institutional care-givers, and foreign home care-givers, the latter being the cheapest, most obedient and most adaptable LTC products. This case exhibits the ‘particularistic’ associations between nationality and care-givers’ workplace, which should be abolished. Only by squarely facing the changes and impacts caused by importing workers into the secondary labour market can one propose concrete, effective LTC labour plans and retention policies.

Keywords

foreign care-giverslong-term careolder adultshome careoccupational segregation
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 36 , Issue 10 , November 2016 , pp. 2090 - 2116
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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