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Government to seek more funding for jobs program

A day after President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) promised that the Executive Yuan would tackle the issue of rising unemployment, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) announced yesterday that the government would seek to increase the budget for its NT$420 billion (US$12.62 billion) plan for major construction projects.

The Cabinet sent a draft construction plan statute to the legislature for deliberation on Monday, but without specifying an exact amount for the special budget.

After Ma said on Wednesday that he hoped to see the Executive Yuan’s job-creation plan expanded, Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) Chairman Chen Tain-jy (陳添枝) said later the same day that the budget earmarked for the construction plan would be increased by NT$80 billion to NT$500 billion.

Liu confirmed the possible expansion of the plan, but did not reveal the new total.

“CEPD Chairman Chen told me that the scale of the budget may be revised upward from NT$420 billion, but the council is still sorting out the details of construction projects to be covered under the program,” Liu said yesterday.

On top of the 100,000 job opportunities that the construction plan is expected to create, Liu said another 200,000 jobs and 240,000 job-training places would be created with the implementation of the four-year plan starting next year.

The plan was a program previously approved by the Cabinet, under which the government would spend NT$6.6 billion a year on job creation.

However, CEPD Vice Chairman San Gee (單驥) gave a different estimate on how many jobs could be created over the next four years.

“The Ministry of Transportation and Communications has estimated that between 100,000 and 200,000 jobs will be created by the four-year construction plan,” San told a press conference after yesterday’s Cabinet meeting.

The government started a short-term job-creation program earlier this month that will last until next June. Under the program, employers can receive NT$10,000 per month for a maximum of six months for hiring a worker unemployed for more than three months.

The government initially hoped to help 46,000 people find jobs by the end of this year and another 56,000 to find employment in the first half of next year.

San said that 1,716 people had recently found jobs and about 8,000 job opportunities had been created thanks to the program.

“The number was short of our expectations. We need to review the program,” San said.
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