Premier promoting plan for part-time employment funds

In a bid to stem rising unemployment, Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) asked government agencies yesterday to set aside roughly 3 percent of this year's administrative fees to create part-time jobs.

The move is a part of the government's effort to keep the nation's unemployment rate under 4 percent.

Under the plan, the government would have as much as NT$10 billion to hire as many as 80,000 part-time workers, according to Chu Wu-hsien (朱武獻), director-general of the Central Personnel Administration.

Chu said the Cabinet's plan would not affect the legislature's resolution to gradually cut the number of government workers, as the part-timers would only work on projects or on an hourly basis.

The Council for Economic Planning and Development, which is in charge of the project, said yesterday the government would know within two days exactly how much money it has for the project after it hears back from the government agencies. "However, it will be less than the NT$10 billion the media has reported," said Liu Yu-liang (劉玉蘭), an official at the council. "The fund will be used in a city or county that each central government agency is targeted to support."

Each government agency will sponsor one specific city or county.

Local governments welcomed the Cabinet's move yesterday, but also voiced concern that the government would lack the funds to support the policy over the long term.

"A much more fundamental measure would be adjusting the industrial structure and simulating economic growth," said Taichung County Commissioner Liao Yung-lai (廖永來). A rising GDP would help address the unemployment problem, Liao said.

Taipei County Commissioner Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) urged the Cabinet to further clarify whether the plan would be implemented on a yearly basis or this year only.

Some DPP legislators yesterday said they had high hopes for the Cabinet's efforts, but doubted whether the plan would be effective.

Yu Jan-daw (余政道) from Kaohsiung City, which -- at 4.89 percent -- has the highest unemployment rate in the country, said the policy could only provide a temporary cure for the nation's 400,000 jobless.

KMT legislators also were not optimistic.

Lin Yi-shin (林益世) said that he was concerned about whether the money would actually be used to create jobs, since many local governments are short on cash. Lin said he expects the money to be used for job creation only instead of as subsidies to local governments.