Grace’s story is not too different from that of her friends. After graduating with a degree in advertising and marketing from a not-too-bad university last spring, she started looking for work, thinking she would be able to land a job paying about NT$30,000 a month, roughly the average salary a candidate with her level of education could expect.
However, she ended up with a job at a US-based advertising firm that pays NT$22,000 a month, the minimum required for businesses that are participating in a government-sponsored internship program for college students.
What exactly does a NT$22,000 monthly salary mean for someone working and living in Taipei City?
PHOTO: LIAO HSUEH-JU, TAIPEI TIMES
It means that after paying her necessary expenses such as rent, food, transportation and miscellaneous daily expenses, there is nothing left to save, forcing Grace to join the ranks of the many graduates being dubbed the “moonlight crowd.”
The term is used to describes people are living paycheck to paycheck, having spent all their salary by the end of the month. It is derived from the Chinese words for “moon” (月), also meaning “month,” and “light” (光), which also means “depleted.”
“It’s not just the low salary,” Grace said. “After a year [of the internship program], I don’t know if I will be out of work again.”
Although her salary and benefits are far from ideal, Grace does not have a better option, because the number of jobs has dwindled amid the global financial crisis.
Grace is not alone. National Labor Insurance records show the average salary of full-time workers aged between 20 and 24 last year was NT$23,826, a 3.5 percent drop from the NT$24,660 earned in 2008.
In 2008, about 30 percent of workers in this age group earned at least NT$24,000. Last year, the proportion dropped to 22 percent, which means that almost 50,000 young people didn’t earn enough to support themselves, especially if they live in a city where the cost of living is high.
The Ministry of Education launched the college student internship program last year in an effort to stimulate the economy by increasing domestic demand.
The ministry budgeted NT$12 billion (US$354 million) to subsidize businesses that hired students as interns.
Businesses receive NT$26,000 in subsidies for each student hired for a one-year internship or short-term work contract. The students are paid NT$22,000 per month for up to a year.
Liu Yu-hsueh (劉侑學), a member of Youth Labor Union 95, criticized the program, saying it lowered employment standards for graduates, reduced their bargaining power and forced them to take low-paid jobs.
The declining numbers of insured workers aged between 20 and 24 showed that the plan has not improved the employment outlook for graduates, he said.
“Young workers are not only forced to settle for low-paying jobs that offer few or no benefits, but some are employed at places that do not even properly insure employees in the National Labor Insurance [program],” he said.
National Taiwan University economics professor Kenneth Lin (林向愷) said young workers with little work experience often have no choice but to settle for lower salaries, especially in the face of high unemployment.
Providing subsidies to businesses that hire graduates would not target the root of the problem, Lin said.
“What we need is to encourage business investment to stimulate the job market, rather than subsidizing businesses to hire interns who are merely replacements for regular employees that the company had already planned to hire anyway,” he said.
Government officials, on the other hand, say the plan provides businesses with an incentive to hire graduates, who in turn receive work experience they need to give them a start in the job market.
Lin San-quei (林三貴), director-general of the Council of Labor Affairs’ Bureau of Employment and Vocational Training, said the council would coordinate efforts with the Ministry of Education and other agencies to better prepare new graduates for the job market.
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