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Cabinet takes preemptive step against unemployment

Fearing the jobless rate will deteriorate further, the Cabinet yesterday unveiled basic countermeasures to deal with the problem and asked related departments to present detailed plans within a month.

The unemployment rate rose to a record monthly high of 5.35 percent in August, slightly higher than the 5.23 percent posted in July. The government claimed that the fall resulted from seasonal factors as more new graduates entered the job market.

After listening to a proposal presented by the Advisory Group for the Sustainable Promotion of Employment on combatting unemployment yesterday morning, Vice Premier Lin Hsin-yi (林信義) called on local governments to team up with the central government to battle the problem together.

"What Taiwan's economy desperately needs now is not a new doctor or an elixir but a good prescription and a little bit of patience," Lin said.

Lin said the government plans to increase employment opportunities by promoting the participation of the private sector in public building programs and by establishing an environment beneficial to local and foreign investment.

The government also plans to strengthen the cultivation of professional talent by offering job training courses and employment counseling to job seekers, and encouraging new graduates to take professional skills training courses.

To create a more efficient and harmonic capital-labor relationship, the government hopes the legislature will pass certain labor-related bills into law as soon as possible. The bills include the proposed labor standards law, the labor union law, the settlement of labor disputes law and a collective agreement law.

The government also plans to increase job opportunities by developing the service industry -- including encouraging counties and cities to build up the hospice and home-care industries -- and by encouraging the public to turn homes located in scenic spots, the countryside or fishing villages into hotels.

Lin said that Taiwan's economy is basically strong and healthy, which gives the nation a competitive edge in global trade.

"Our interaction with the world is so significant that if we catch a cold, the rest of the world sneezes," he said.

However, as Taiwan used to ignore the factors that could make the economy sick, Lin said, it deteriorates once it catches a cold.

"However, it's curable and we'll face the problem head-on," he said. "While taking pills is not the best way to cure it, developing better eating habits and lifestyles are a good way to prevent it from happening again."
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