The government will not hesitate to act if the new labor insurance pension system goes in the red 19 years from now, Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) Minister Wang Ju-hsuan (王如玄) said.
“It is just conjecture that the labor pension fund risks incurring debts 19 years after the system takes effect,” said Wang on Friday.
Noting that the assumption was based on hypothetical scenarios — such as up to 80 percent of wage earners choosing to receive monthly pension payments and the pension fund’s return on investment being 4 percent or less — Wang said this depressing forecast might not necessarily be correct.
“There are many variables to decide the future of the labor pension fund, so we need not be too pessimistic,” Wang said, adding that if the fund did begins to incur deficits, the government would enact bailout measures.
Wang’s assurances came after the Legislative Yuan approved a package of amendments to the Labor Insurance Act (勞工保險條例) that will allow the country’s 8 million-plus wage earners to receive pension payments in monthly installments rather than in one lump sum.
Under the existing system, retired wage earners can only receive their pension in a lump sum, the value of which risks being eaten up by inflation and failed investment.
The new system, which will come into force on Jan. 1, will permit retired workers from the age of 60 on to choose to collect their pension in a lump sum or to receive monthly payouts until death.
Wang encouraged wage earners to choose the monthly payout system, which she said would benefit pensioners far more than the lump sum alternative.
“For pensioners who opt for monthly payments, the amount they receive after eight years and one month will outstrip the amount they receive in one lump sum,” Wang said, adding that if a pensioner died and the accumulated monthly amount received is lower than the lump sum, the surviving family would be given the difference.
Also, the insurance premium rate would be raised from the current 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent initially, increasing year by year to a maximum of 13 percent by 2027.
Pensioners opting for monthly payouts will receive an amount equaling the number of years they have participated in the labor insurance system times their monthly salary (calculated by taking the average of a worker’s 60 highest monthly salaries) times the income substitution factor of 1.55 percent.
A retired worker with a monthly insured wage of NT$43,900 would be entitled to receive a pension of NT$20,414 per month after being in the system for 30 years.
Stressing that the main purpose of the new system was to enable workers to lead dignified lives after retiring, Wang said the increase in the premium rate was necessary.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS