The country’s long-term unemployed mainly comprise young, highly educated workers, rather than elderly, low-skilled workers, a recent report by the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) showed.
Data analyzed by the council and obtained from the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics showed that the biggest group in the country’s long-term unemployed are those aged between 20 to 34 years old.
The data showed that in January, of the 115,000 who have been unemployed for 53 weeks or longer, 57,000 were between 20 to 34 years old, about 50 percent of the total long-term unemployed. Contrary to expectations, workers aged 45 or older only accounted for 27 percent of all workers who have been unemployed for more than a year.
Council officials attribute this phenomenon to the decreasing average number of children per family, which has contributed to the growing ranks of young people who rely on their families for support and are in no hurry to find a job. Some parents who have only one child may be in relatively good financial shape and hesitant to prod their child to find a job, officials said.
Workers with a college degree or higher made up 48,000 people of the 115,000 who have been jobless for more than a year, about 42 percent.
Officials said that as more workers become better educated, they are more likely to seek out high-paying jobs or be more picky when it comes to the type of job they want. If workers are not under financial pressure to settle for a less-than-perfect job, they may become one of the long-term unemployed, the council said.
In related news, the latest council statistics showed that the number of work-related deaths decreased from 330 in 2008 to 239 last year, a drop of 27.6 percent.
The rate of compensated work-related injury also dropped; in 2007, 4.439 people out of every 1,000 people were compensated for a work-related injury, but last year, the number dropped to 4.292.
The sector with the highest rate of compensated occupational injury is the construction industry (13.625 per 1,000 workers), followed by mining (7.468) and manufacturing (5.522).
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
RSS