Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) on Wednesday authorized a policy that, beginning this month, would allow parents with young children to reduce their working time by one hour each day while still receiving full pay, with the Taipei City Government subsidizing 80 percent of wages lost. However, a closer look reveals the stringent requirement that applications must have household registration in Taipei City, leaving many commuters from New Taipei City and Keelung unable to access these benefits. From making school lunches free to now offering working-hour reduction subsidies, Chiang appears less like a far-sighted administrator and more like a prince eager to splurge public funds to earn applause.
First, the most dangerous aspect of this kind of policy is its irreversibility and malign spillover effects. Once Taipei City fires the first shot, other local administrations would appear backward if they fail to follow suit. Yet if they do, they risk crippling their own finances. This sort of extravagance lacks fiscal discipline and a balanced national perspective. It is a classic example of Taipei’s long-held Tian Long Guo (天龍國) stereotype — focusing only on electoral gains while ignoring the justice of resource allocation.
Second, Chiang spoke glowingly of a similar initiative in Gwangju, South Korea, yet he selectively overlooked the structural differences and social costs behind the policy. South Korean society by no means lacks dissenting voices — backlash from businesses, workplace friction arising between colleagues due to uneven work-life balances, and a sense of relative deprivation felt by childless employees or single workers has already sparked intense debate in the country.
When an employee leaves work an hour early, their workload does not magically disappear — it is shifted onto their colleagues. The city government might subsidize wages, but can it compensate for the fractures in the workplace caused by perceived privilege? For small and medium-sized enterprises already struggling with a lack of personnel, losing one hour of labor can be a fatal blow.
Could this policy be yet another attempt to test the waters? First, float a seemingly attractive proposal to win the favor of young parents, then — if implementation proves difficult or there is too much backlash — shift the blame onto central regulations or technical issues in execution. This kind of “shoot the arrow first, then draw the target,” mentality treats municipal governance like a children’s game.
Chiang has tasted the sweetness and applause that comes with handing out money. Yet for a politician, distributing funds is the easiest move — no one ever complains about receiving more money. Reform, by contrast, is the hardest path because it inevitably offends vested interests. A genuine solution to Taiwan’s declining birthrate requires a family-friendly childcare environment, a reasonable housing price structure and deep changes to workplace culture — not token gestures like working one less hour each day.
Lin Han is a junior-high school teacher.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
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