Taipei City's Bureau of Social Affairs recently released some rather disturbing figures -- people between 40 and 49 make up the largest portion (30 percent) of homeless people in the city. If Taipei is seeing a rise in middle-aged homeless people, then how much more serious is the situation in other parts of the country?
Liu San-chi (劉三錡), head of the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, said during a briefing at the Legislative Yuan on Monday that during the past two years, Taiwan has seen negative economic growth for the first time and that unemployment has risen to an unprecedented 5 percent. This means the unemployment problem will continue to worsen and society will see more family tragedies unless the government comes up with decisive relief measures. However, legislators from the opposition parties have time and again blocked the ruling party's NT$70 billion unemployment relief proposal. Such political wrangling is extremely inappropriate.
It was also unfair for the opposition to demand that the government avoid following the model of post-921 relief measures, when new debts were passed through special legislation. Everyone knows that the central government's coffers have long been empty. Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) pointed out in a media interview on Monday that the KMT government left debts totaling NT$2.5 trillion at the central government level, and another NT$800 billion at the provincial government level when it handed over power in 2000. What the KMT turned over to the new DPP government was nothing less than a big mess. According to the Ministry of Finance, the central government still owes more than NT$2.89 trillion, while the state is empty.
If the DPP government is not allowed to float new debt to create more job opportunities by increasing infrastructure investments and strengthening employment training, then the government will have no money to use and unemployed people will have no hope for the future. How can this be the behavior of any responsible legislature or government?
This newspaper is strongly opposed to the unemployment subsidies proposed by some legislators, such as the idea of giving away NT$5,000 per person before Lunar New Year. The NT$70 billion should never be used in such a consumer-like manner. This newspaper believes that the government should use taxpayers' money in a more constructive way. For example, when making investments aimed at expanding domestic demand, the government should first cooperate closely with business and perhaps even provide small wage subsidies to encourage large construction companies to hire more local labor while also encouraging local people to take up the available jobs.
The government may also take the initiative to provide short-term wage subsidies to major local enterprises to allow them to try using unemployed people who are relatively more willing to take up new jobs -- and through short-term on-the-job training to increase the possibility of long-term employment. The Netherlands and Singapore, both of which have experienced economic downturns, have spent large sums of money to train unemployed people. The results have been impressive and worthy of Taiwan's emulation.
This newspaper also believes that government agencies should be more innovative and propose more and better plans for fighting unemployment. Otherwise, the money will be wasted and Taiwan may see a second transition of political power. What's more, Taiwan's economy will lose an opportunity to make a comeback and thereby fall far behind Singapore and South Korea.
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