A company's potential can no longer be judged merely by its properties. I hope the new system can be built soon to help good enterprises gain more loans and investors.
TT: Many jobless people have blamed their status on the import of foreign workers. Do you agree with that argument and how do you view the current job market?
Day: One sad thing in our society is that there is a certain group of people with inadequate work skills who are reluctant to advance themselves. They prefer to live on welfare.
For instance, the government last month proposed a hiring project in an attempt to cut the nation's unemployment rate by 0.3 percentage points. In that plan the government wanted companies to hire up to 25,000 jobless people in the labor pool of the Council of Labor Affairs. While there were over 30,000 job vacancies, only around 700 people were hired up to last week. Isn't that ridiculous?
The reason that so few people could meet the job requirements is most registered job-seekers are only suitable for labor-intensive work, while many vacancies require people who have bilingual or computer skills.
I think people shouldn't continue blaming foreign workers for unemployment. Actually, foreign workers are taking jobs which many of us refuse to take because of low salaries and bad working environments. As a result, I hope workers advance themselves by equipping themselves with more skills to remain competitive in the job market.
I also encourage various trade associations to provide further on-the-job training to their employees. This is a program I'm now undertaking in our association.
TT: You have suggested many times that the government not make tax inspections on businessmen. Why?
Day: The frequent tax raids imposed by the government are a form of disturbance to companies. The government tries to attract foreign investments by offering various tax breaks, but tax inspections reduce companies' willingness to stay in Taiwan.
Furthermore, the tax income brought by investments will definitely be higher than the taxes being evaded.
Take myself for example. I have had one factory in the US for years, but the US government has never checked my tax reports, because it knows the practice scares away investors.
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