On Sunday, the Taipei City Government’s pilot program to subsidize reduced working hours for parents opened for applications. Under the plan, the city government is to cover 80 percent of lost wages for employees with children aged 12 and younger to reduce their working hours. Expected to help with school pickups and drop-offs by allowing parents to start work late or leave early, the policy has attracted significant attention for a straightforward reason: It resonates with the realities of working parents in Taiwan, for whom there simply are not enough hours in the day.
Using subsidies to free up time for parents rather than offering checks is a welcome one; it shows that the government has come to acknowledge that parents are being stretched too thin between work and the home. However, from a policy efficacy standpoint there are three major holes.
First, the amount of funding available during this pilot phase and the scope of its coverage are too small to have a substantive impact. Low birthrates are part of a long-term crisis of population structure and national development, meaning that, if the policy cannot be scaled, it is unlikely to make much of a difference. Having a trial period is entirely reasonable, but, without follow-through, the agenda would offer nothing more than a short-lived moment of respite.
Second, the incentives offered to companies are insufficient. Reducing working hours would not necessarily reduce workload without in-tandem adjustments to workflows and performance review systems, and so companies are left with an extra scheduling and management cost. While subsidies can lighten some of the load, whether they would be enough to change the corporate hiring and promotional appraisal system’s culture in the long term is uncertain. If few companies take up the program, it could mean that the entire program struggles to get off the ground, ending up as just another symbolic measure offered by a minority of firms.
Third, low birthrates cannot be solely fixed by giving an extra hour back to parents. Sky-high house prices, stagnating incomes, insufficient access to childcare and gender inequality are the real reasons that the younger generation are putting off getting married and starting families. Without concurrent initiatives across these areas, a single policy measure would be hard-pressed to make a difference.
A promising option would be to integrate the policy into a broader system of flexible working hours. Remote or hybrid work arrangements, or simply shifting work schedules to avoid peak travel time would help parents and caregivers arrange pickups and drop-offs and cut down on commutes. By pairing reduced and flexible working hours, rewards can be reaped for both caregivers and wider city operations.
It is worth noting that the Gender Equality in Employment Act (性別平等工作法) has provisions on employees with a child younger than three being entitled to reduced working hours, but offers no compensation to this end. The Taipei City Government is looking to plug this hole, but what is really needed is for the central government to assess the legal and financial resources available to turn parent-friendly policies into lasting frameworks instead of short-term sticking plasters.
Low birthrates are not a regional issue, but a national crisis of an aging population and a shrinking labor force. To truly lower the cost of child-rearing, the central government must employ a combination of fiscal and institutional tools to implement reforms across housing, incomes, childcare and the workplace as soon as possible.
Chen Ching-yun is a former director of the Legislative Yuan’s Bureau of Legal Affairs.
Translated by Gilda Knox Streader
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