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Poll reveals the depths of laborers' financial plight

More than 75 percent of laborers polled in a recent survey said they are under a heavy financial burden owing to the ongoing economic recession.

According to the results of the survey released by a local employment agency, the 1111 Human Resources Bank, 53 percent of respondents said they have refrained from buying a house because of the recession.

At the same time, 60 percent said they would not have babies because of the financial situation.

The rise in premiums and fees for the National Health Insurance Program since September has forced cash-strapped laborers to cut back on their visits to doctors, according to the survey.

It found that 55 percent of the respondents said they prefer to buy drugs from pharmacies rather than seeing a doctor after the hike in medical fees.

Almost all of the 3,012 workers interviewed between Oct. 25 and Nov. 5 said their incomes between this year and last were significantly less than they were between 1998 and 2000. They attributed their financial plight to the country's faltering economy, the exodus of the local manufacturing industry and layoffs by local companies.

Chuang Hsiao-tzu, a labor advocate, said the findings boost local laborers' complaints that they cannot afford to buy houses, raise children, enroll their children in schools or treat illness.

Noting that the incomes of the country's top 20 percent of money earners had increased to 6.39 times that of the bottom 20 percent, she criticized the government's policy of setting up a NT$1 trillion fund to bail out the country's money-losing banks, saying it would benefit only the rich.
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