In its most recent report, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said the unemployment rate was 6.04 percent, or 661,000 people. This compares with an average of 450,000 jobless people last year; clearly, it’s time for the government to do something.
Balanced and inclusive growth can be sustainable. Such growth needs to satisfy the needs of the current generation without compromising those of future generations. For this reason, everyone must work hard to ensure that negotiations on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen reach workable conclusions. Taiwan is not a member of the UN, but it is a part of this planet; it should support any initiatives that will sustain life on Earth.
It is important to address climate change, but it is also important to eliminate unnecessary trade barriers relating to environmental goods and services. In so doing, valuable resources can be better preserved and optimally allocated. Public-private partnerships within and between nations through APEC would be a feasible way of coordinating efforts that target sustainable growth.
Again, Taiwan should not be absent from this process. In addition to optimistic economic data, there is a desire for an equilibrium in which growth is balanced across all macroeconomic sectors, thus leading to acceptance across an entire society while fulfilling environmental responsibilities.
Darson Chiu is an associate research fellow and Pei-chen Liu is an industry consultant at the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research.
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