According to Taiwan News, Taiwan's Council of Labor Affairs intends to amend the Labor Standards Law to require public and private employers to provide greater benefits and job security to workers hired through employment agencies or specialized contractors (known in Taiwan as "dispatched workers").  Currently, employers need not provide health and retirement benefits, bonuses, or severance pay to dispatched workers.  As of May 2009, 687,000 of Taiwan's nine million workers were dispatched workers, which is five times greater than in 2003 (130,000), and 11 times more than in 1996 (60,000).