The consistently higher rates of unemployment among the Aboriginal population compared with the rest of the population puts their survival at risk, officials said yesterday.
A panel discussion involving the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA), the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD), and the Council of Indigenous People (COIP) was held yesterday to discuss government initiatives to resolve the issue.
Deputy head of the Katagalan Institute Lin Hsiang-kai (林向愷) said that while the trend toward export trade in the 1960s had boosted the labor market, globalization in the 1990s had led to the closure of many industries in Taiwan, decreasing demand for laborers.
This, in addition to the legalization of the import of foreign laborers in 1992, had reduced job opportunities for indigenous people, a majority of whom are laborers.
"The economic development of Taiwan cannot be deemed fruitful if the economic survival of even a portion of the nation's citizen's isn't accounted for. Taiwan cannot call itself a democratic society if indigenous peoples' right to survive isn't protected," Lin said.
According to statistics presented by vice chair of the CEPD, Hsieh Fa-ta (謝發達), unemployment rates among Aboriginals have always been higher than that of the rest of the population, with unemployment differences peaking in 2001 at 5.26 percent for the general population and 14.86 percent for indigenous people.
Although the gap in the jobless rate has narrowed since then, with unemployment rates in May last year at 4.41 percent for the general population and 5.76 percent for indigenous people, the difference still raises concern.
In September, a joint proposal by the CLA, the CEPD and the COIP to promote employment for Aborigines was passed by the Executive Yuan.
The plan aims to lower the jobless rate among indigenous people to 4.1 percent and the unemployment rate of the rest of the population to 4.0 percent by 2007. Approximately NT$6.12 billion (US$185 million) will be invested in the venture.
CLA Vice Chairperson Lai Chin-lin (
Vice chair of the COIP, Icyan Perod (
"Figures show that a larger proportion of Aborigines are involved in labor opportunities than the general population, at 63.9 percent compared with 57.6 percent, yet the unemployment rates among Aborigines are still higher. This means that the education of indigenous people is on the underdeveloped side," he said.
He said one initiative will start next week, which will establish a database containing the qualifications of Aborigines over the age of 15 who are looking for work.
"There will be no more excuses for prospective employers who say that they cannot find indigenous talent," he said.
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do