Inadequate finances, inability to buy a home and long work hours are the three major reasons for Taiwan’s low birthrate, according to a yes123 online job bank survey released yesterday.
The survey found that 63 percent of office workers aged 20 and above who responded to the poll had no children and of those, 48 percent did not plan to start a family.
In answering a multiple-choice question about why they did not want children, 66.3 percent of those respondents said they were worried about earning enough to raise a child, 42.2 percent said they could not afford to buy a home for a family and 28.9 percent said they were too busy with work.
Photo: Tyrone Siu, Reuters
Other reasons cited were dissatisfaction with the nation’s education system (23.5 percent) and concerns about serious social problems and the effect on children (21.9 percent).
The survey results show the nation’s low birthrate is related to not only low salary levels, pay freezes and long working hours, but also high housing prices, the educational environment and social order, yes123 spokesman Yang Tsung-bin (楊宗斌) said.
The survey also found that respondents believe it takes an average monthly household income of about NT$102,210 to raise a child: NT$108,435 in the six special municipalities and NT$86,971 in other cities and counties.
Based on those findings, the best way for the government to boost the birthrate would be to increase the minimum wage and call on companies to raise salaries through industrial transformation, while working to improve social welfare and social security, the company said.
The survey was conducted from March 15 to Tuesday last week among job seekers aged 20 and above through online questionnaires, with 1,236 valid samples collected, including 692 from people who are married (434 of whom have children) and 544 from single people (23 who have children).
It had a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of 2.79 percentage points.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
RSS