Sat, Apr 11, 2026 page8

• Government eases childcare burden

  • By Chen Ching-yun 陳清雲
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  The Executive Yuan last month approved a measure relaxing rules for hiring foreign domestic workers. From April 13, families with at least one child younger than 12 would be allowed to apply to hire a helper, with the Ministry of Labor estimating that 1.44 million households would be eligible.

  At the very least, the new policy demonstrates that the government has listened to the public about the pressure that dual-income families and families with young children face, and is willing to act by increasing childcare options.

  The Executive Yuan’s decision to approve the measure is commendable.

  What families lack is not love, but time. Typically, both parents work, while their children have to be taken to and from school, accompanied and cared for, and household chores have to be taken care of, without support from grandparents. Many families barely manage to get by.

  It is not a bad thing that the government is willing to relax institutional restrictions and provide another path for families capable of taking on the financial burden.

  Diversifying choices is precisely the direction that an advanced society should take — other factors, such as whether to apply and how to adjust the market accordingly, should be left up to market mechanisms and individual family needs.

  However, relaxing rules on hiring foreign domestic workers is by no means a cure-all for Taiwan’s declining birthrate. Several concerns have already been raised about the policy, including the possibility of crowding out the number of domestic helpers available for families with members who have severe disabilities, the potential effects on the domestic market for childcare and household services, and the fact that the change might not significantly increase the nation’s female labor force participation rate or the birthrate.

  The government must not neglect such issues. The policy can be implemented, but supporting measures must be carried out simultaneously — effective monitoring, assurances for disadvantaged families, childcare quality evaluations and transformational assistance for the domestic care service workforce are all equally necessary.

  Even more important is that the declining birthrate is not an issue that can be improved by any single policy. High housing costs, low salaries, long working hours, workplaces that are not family-friendly, a lack of childcare resources and a significant gender imbalance in the division of household labor are factors contributing to unwillingness among young people to get married and have children.

  For many, it is not necessarily that they do not want to start a family, but that after calculating the costs, they are left with no choice but to give up.

  When wanting to get married is a source of intense pressure and wanting to have children becomes an unrealistic dream, it is only natural that population decline would grow increasingly severe.

  If the government truly wants to address the declining birthrate, it cannot merely focus on patching up holes in the support network — it must address the problem at its source. Encouraging young people to marry and have children is important, but the reality that the mindset of the new generation has already changed must also be faced.

  Marriage and childbearing are not necessarily forever linked — in many Western countries, the number of unmarried women with children is comparatively higher and institutional safeguards are more complete. It is worthwhile for Taiwan to consider this model, provided it aligns with national conditions.

  The government must not turn a blind eye to people who wish to have children but do not want to be bound by traditional marriage customs.

  Now that Taiwan has legalized same-sex marriage, it should do more with regard to supporting measures for childbirth and family structures. There is an undeniable need to accelerate the progress of revisions to regulations such as the Artificial Reproduction Act (人工生殖法).

  Childbearing, raising children and education are the three most crucial tenets of starting a family. If the government truly wishes to raise the birthrate, it must present more tangible policy benefits — the goal should be to ensure that young people earn higher incomes and have access to affordable housing, stable childcare and family-friendly workplaces, and that children receive institutional support.

  Only by allowing the public to visualize their futures and believe that they can bear life’s many burdens can the nation truly hope to evolve from a situation where young people are unwilling to get married and do not dare to have children, to one where they want to get married and can have children with peace of mind.

  Easing rules on hiring foreign domestic workers can be a starting point, but it must not be the end. Addressing the declining birthrate requires a multifaceted approach — to truly forge a way out of Taiwan’s population crisis, reforms must be implemented at the institutional, cultural, economic and educational levels.

  Chen Ching-yun is a former director of the Legislative Yuan’s Bureau of Legal Affairs.

  Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
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