The Examination Yuan unveiled a plan yesterday to develop a personality test for government employees taking part in on-the-job training programs, with the aim of enhancing the efficacy of the programs.
The test will be helpful in analyzing the personality traits of trainees and evaluating their training needs, said Chang Ming-chu (張明珠), chairwoman of the Examination Yuan’s Civil Service Protection and Training Commission that supervises civil service.
Chang said the test results will also serve as a reference for government agencies when deciding which employees are most suitable for certain jobs.
The commission is also planning to introduce a competence evaluation system to determine the training needs of civil servants, she said.
Examination Yuan President John Kuan (關中) said building up a talent pool in the civil service system is crucial to ensuring national progress and social harmony.
In other news, the Executive Yuan’s Central Personnel Administration recently moved to cap the number of temps working at governmental agencies at 15,000.
The measure, came in response to recent protests by labor activists, but failed to meet with the groups’ demand that the government forbid its agencies from using temp workers to fill job openings.
As of the end of January, the number of temps working in government agencies, public schools and state-run enterprises was estimated at 15,514.
Government statistics showed that the country has seen a rapid increase in the number of temporary workers, rising from 60,000 in 1996, to 130,000 in 2003, and 687,000 in May last year.
The Council of Labor Affairs is in the process of drawing up a draft law to regulate temp agencies but has yet to reach consensus with labor groups.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
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