President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday instructed government agencies to be ready for the impact of an influx of new college graduates on unemployment levels.
Ma said that while the government hoped to lower the jobless rate to 5 percent by the end of the year, he expected 200,000 college graduates to enter the job market over the summer and unemployment to increase as a result.
Last month unemployment was 5.39 percent, down 0.28 percentage points from the previous month and the eighth month in a row the jobless rate has fallen, but the figure was still higher than in other Asian countries. Japan's jobless rate was 5 percent, South Korea 3.7 percent and Singapore 2.2 percent. The unemployment rate in Hong Kong was 4.4 percent.
Last month also saw 30,000 more people lose their jobs.
Ma said that first-quarter GDP rose 13.27 percent from a year earlier, posting the highest growth since the fourth quarter of 1978. However, he accepted that the sharp growth had a lot to do with the low comparison base last year.
Emphasizing that the general direction of economic policy is correct, Ma said the economy had picked up, but the administration needed to pay attention to four areas when tackling the economy: improve the employment situation, encourage innovation, save energy and cut carbon emission, as well as participate in economic integration in the Asia-Pacific region.
At a separate setting yesterday, Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) said the government must “put more energy into its effort to get unemployment below 5 percent.”
The Ministry of Education has floated the idea of bringing down the jobless rate by encouraging universities to offer one-year intensive programs to recent graduates, enabling them to continue at school for three more semesters and obtain a second bachelor's degree.
Siew said that “there is nothing bad about government taking over to close the gap” between what industries need and what students learn.
He attributed the bear stock market to the credit crisis in Europe and tension on the Korean Peninsula, but said he did not think it would last too long.
With government debt fast approaching its legal limit, Siew proposed issuing company bonds to raise funds for the construction of the Taoyuan aerotropolis.
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