The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday slammed the government’s economic policies, saying they have contributed to the nation’s soaring unemployment rate.
DPP Legislator Wang Sing-nan (王幸男) told a press conference that since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office last year, Taiwan’s investments in China have grown from NT$733.6 billion (US$22.38 billion) to NT$857.3 billion but domestic investment decreased from NT$470.7 billion to NT$246.2 billion.
Because of the decrease in domestic investment, companies and factories have been forced to downsize and reduce manpower, leading to unemployment, which hit a record high last month.
The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) announced on Monday that unemployment rose 0.06 percentage points to 5.82 percent, or 633,000 people, last month, a new high since the survey began in 1978. Government officials attributed the record high rate to recent university graduates entering the labor market.
“President Ma used the wrong prescription to cure the economics and job market,” Wang said. “His economic policy of lifting restrictions on Taiwan’s investment in China has contributed to the rise in [Taiwan’s] unemployment.”
DPP Legislator Pan Meng-an (潘孟安) said that since Ma took office, unemployment, the suicide rate and the number of poor families had all hit new highs.
“Unemployment rose from 3.19 percent to 5.82 percent, or 633,000 people. If we add hidden unemployment numbers, the number of unemployed people would be more than 1 million,” he said.
When the government came up with measures to help young people find jobs, it neglected unemployed middle-aged and elderly people who are usually their family’s main bread-winner, he said, as he called on the government to come up with measures to help such people find work.
DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) further accused the Ma administration of ignoring high unemployment by mulling plans to recognize Chinese academic degrees, open white-collar positions to Chinese applicants and sign an economic cooperation framework agreement with China, which Cheng said ran the risk of affecting at least 4 million jobs in Taiwan.
At a separate setting, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said the government would watch the changes in the unemployment rate on a weekly basis to keep it within an acceptable range.
Liu said the Council for Economic Planning and Development had estimated that the unemployment rate would reach 6 percent, but would fall in September.
“The government’s strategies to address unemployment have demonstrated effectiveness, but we have to continue our ongoing efforts to bring the figure down further,” Liu said when asked for comment.
Liu said the government has confidence that the unemployment rate can be kept within an acceptable range as the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) and the Ministry of Education (MOE) will soon launch job fairs to help college students find internships.
To help new college graduates find jobs, the government has implemented a temporary program to put graduates in contact with enterprises interested in providing one-year internship opportunities.
Meanwhile, Vice Premier Paul Chiu (邱正雄) said the CLA, the MOE and other agencies would co-host job-matching fairs from Wednesday to July 17 nationwide. The fairs are expected to help 13,000 graduates to find jobs.
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