Tue, Oct 19, 1999 page1

• Jobs for relief doesn't mean money for nothing, commission decides

  RELIEF SCHEMES Confusion surrounding the government's objectives in seeking to ease unemployment in quake-hit areas has led to problems, the Cabinet admits

  • By Yu Sen-lun / STAFF REPORTER
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  Employment benefit schemes for those affected by the 921 earthquake were amended yesterday, in a bid by Premier Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) to aid reconstruction.

  Two programs introduced by the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) to help those who lost their jobs and homes in the devastating quake will be merged and qualification procedures simplified following the premier's intervention.

  There has been controversy over the benefit schemes in local townships and the CLA's policies became the main topic for the fifth meeting of the Cabinet-level Post-Disaster Reconstruction Commission.

  Chiang Ping-kun (|?坤), chairman of the Council for Economic Planning and Development, and Chao Sho-po (趙|u3?/CHINESE>), Taiwan Province Chairman, said regulations for the two projects were unclear and could easily cause confusion.

  "Even local governments had trouble differentiating between the two," said Government Information Office Director-General Chen Chien-jen (程建?H).

  In an effort to bring stability to local communities and help reconstruction efforts, Siew asked for an integration of the two policies and simplification of the regulations.

  Siew also asked CLA chairman Chan Ho-Shen (詹?鶗?/CHINESE>) to visit the stricken townships himself, so as to better explain the policy and the changes made to it.

  Under the "Jobs in Exchange for Relief" program, employment is offered to homeowners whose houses were damaged beyond repair and they are paid a daily wage of NT$542. The program has been criticized as being tantamount to a relief handout, prompting the council to tighten eligibility critieria last week and monitor whether applicants did indeed work for payment.

  The "Temporary Employment Allowance" program was introduced last week to help non-homeowners in disaster areas who were left unemployed after the quake.

  Chan said the council would review implementation of the policies in the next two weeks, but he said their basic principles would not be changed.

  "First, applicants should accept job allocations made by township governments; second, applicants should claim payment only after their work is done," Chan said.

  Lin Tsong-ming (林聰明), director of the Employment and Vocational Training Administration, said the two programs had already been combined.

  He said residents did not have to specify which program they were applying for: "As long as people go and claim for temporary job subsidies and accept jobs offered by the government, they would be paid a daily salary of NT$542 under either program."

  According to data from Lin's administration two days ago, the program has received 50,273 applications, approving 6,598 of them, and has paid out a total of NT$87 million.

  Only 3,328 jobs were allocated by local government, however. Too many applicants and too few local officials was the main reason, said Chou Ting-an, a CLA official stationed in Puli, Nantou County.

  The township approved nearly 3,000 applicants in the first week of the policy. According to the CLA's evaluation NT$3 billion is expected to be spent on the two programs.

  For your information

  The bottom line

  * The Employment and Vocational Training Administration has received 50,273 applications for the program * It has approved 6,598 `jobs' and has paid out a total of NT$87 million * But only 3,328 jobs were allocated by local government, as there were too few officials to handle a flood of applications
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Jeers as Real Madrid fall 2-1 to Man City

  • 2

    US bolstering first island chain deterrence: NSB report

  • 3

    Taiwanese tourists go viral in video during Japan quake

  • 4

    Taiwan, Poland to codevelop drones

  • 5

    Climber to attempt free solo of 101