For governments to effectively resolve economic issues, they need to understand the unemployment situation in their nations and the causes of high unemployment, Nobel laureate in Economics Dale Mortensen said in a speech in Taipei yesterday.
Mortensen said Taiwan was performing fairly well among the four “Asian Tigers,” with unemployment at 4.4 percent and an inflation rate of 1.8 percent, indicating that the country has successful monetary policies.
However, it still needs to be cautious of an impact from a second global recession, as developed countries economies remains distressed, he warned in his speech, titled “The Labor Market Response to the Great Recession.”
Governments have long neglected academics’ calls to pay attention to the widening wealth gap, he said, adding that global economic growth has only benefited the richest 10 percent of the population, and even if their wealth is redistributed to the poor, the poor will only become poorer.
The Occupy Wall Street movement in the US reflects people’s growing resentment of the widening wealth gap, for which both Democrats and Republicans are responsible, he added.
As for youth unemployment in Taiwan, Mortensen said youth unemployment has been a tough problem the world over since the global financial crisis in 2008, further deepening wealth gap.
However, Denmark and Sweden were examples of nations whose financial policies and tax reforms have helped bridge the wealth gap by creating more jobs and stimulating domestic consumption.
During a panel discussion with local economists and corporate leaders in the afternoon, Mortensen said Taiwan’s education system could play a role by help students learn abilities wanted by local companies, which in turn would help the firms expand in China.
His comment came after Far Eastern Group (遠東集團) chairman Douglas Hsu (徐旭東) said Taiwanese companies were facing shortage of people to fill top-ranking positions in their Chinese operations, including the group’s subsidiaries and branches there.
“In this case, the government has the responsibility to educate more students qualified to take high-level positions in China,” Mortensen said.
Tang Ming-je (湯明哲), vice president at National Taiwan University, said Taiwan as a whole was facing a “brain drain” because a growing number of people are choosing to work for foreign companies in China.
The problem might become more serious in the next five to 10 years as globalization expands, Mortensen said, adding the problem was not unique to Taiwan since countries such as the UK suffered from a similar situation years ago.
Industrial upgrades would not only help keep local professions in their home market, but also attract talented foreigners, he said.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
SIZE MATTERS: TSMC started phasing out 8-inch wafer production last year, while Samsung is more aggressively retiring 8-inch capacity, TrendForce said Chipmakers are expected to raise prices of 8-inch wafers by up to 20 percent this year on concern over supply constraints as major contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co gradually retire less advanced wafer capacity, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. It is the first significant across-the-board price hike since a global semiconductor correction in 2023, the Taipei-based market researcher said in a report. Global 8-inch wafer capacity slid 0.3 percent year-on-year last year, although 8-inch wafer prices still hovered at relatively stable levels throughout the year, TrendForce said. The downward trend is expected to continue this year,
POWERING UP: PSUs for AI servers made up about 50% of Delta’s total server PSU revenue during the first three quarters of last year, the company said Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) reported record-high revenue of NT$161.61 billion (US$5.11 billion) for last quarter and said it remains positive about this quarter. Last quarter’s figure was up 7.6 percent from the previous quarter and 41.51 percent higher than a year earlier, and largely in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$160 billion. Delta’s annual revenue last year rose 31.76 percent year-on-year to NT$554.89 billion, also a record high for the company. Its strong performance reflected continued demand for high-performance power solutions and advanced liquid-cooling products used in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers,
RSS