The head of the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) said on Saturday that the council would propose a new program to boost employment figures after the current short-term employment program expires at the end of the year.
The end of this year’s employment program will affect 45,000 jobs, CEPD Chairman Tsai Hsung-hsiung (蔡勳雄) said in an interview. He added, however, that the government would not rule out the possibility of creating more public sector jobs.
“Although the economy has gradually started to recover, the overall jobless rate will remain high if these people are unable to get back into the job market and the government has noted the significance of the problem,” said Tsai, who took office on Sept. 10.
Tsai said the CEPD would propose a new employment program after discussions with the Council of Labor Affairs, which intends to increase the number of short-term jobs it offers or enhance existing employment and vocational training.
The CEPD could also consider creating more jobs in the public sector or getting the private sector to cooperate with the government in job creation, Tsai said.
However, the government is also concerned that some unemployed people will become welfare-dependent, which means the CEPD will have to carefully consider the program before proposing it to the Executive Yuan, he said.
Tsai said Taiwan’s employment situation has improved in the past five months, adding that the nation might be able to avoid a situation in which capital flows only into the local stock market or real estate market, which does not provide much help in generating new jobs.
“The government needs to expand private-sector investment,” Tsai said.
Tsai said last month that Taiwan had passed through the darkest days of its economic downturn. With the launch of public construction projects designed to stimulate domestic demand, as well as post-flood restoration projects, more jobs will be on offer, he said in his first report to the Legislative Yuan.
Taiwan’s unemployment rate dropped to 6.04 percent last month, 0.09 percentage points below a record high of 6.13 percent in August. The number of unemployed people totaled 661,000 last month, down 11,000 from the previous month.
Meanwhile, Tsai said the government would need at least NT$25 billion (US$772 million) if nursing care were included in the nation’s universal health insurance coverage.
The CEPD has prepared a report on nursing care insurance and a draft of a nursing care bill that will be submitted to the Legislative Yuan at the end of the year, he said.
While the Department of Health is working on a legal framework for nursing care insurance, the CEPD has studied the financial resources that would be needed to pay for the program, which is expected to be launched in 2011.
The CEPD will suggest that the government, employers and employees share the cost of insurance premiums, although the ratio of contributions has yet to be decided, Tsai said.
Like many developed countries, Taiwan faces an aging population.
CEPD statistics show that 22.5 percent of the population will be more than 65 years old by 2028, while the number of disabled will have increased from 396,000 last year to 811,000 by 2028.
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