As many as 100,000 people are expected to flock to a series of job fairs being held nationwide from today, the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) said yesterday.
The first two job fairs open today in Taichung and Hualien, while two more will be held next Saturday in Taoyuan and Tainan. According to the council estimates, 84,000 job openings and 71,000 training positions will be available at the four job fairs.
“Job seekers coming to the fairs will be comprehensively served. In addition to filling in job applications and having initial job interviews, they will be informed within two weeks if they have been recruited. If they do not manage to secure a job, they will receive information on other job opportunities,” Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) Vice Chairman Kuo Foung-yu (郭芳煜) told a press conference yesterday.
Among the projected 84,000 full-time job opportunities, 25,000 are in the public sector and 15,000 in the private sector, while about 20,000 people who qualify would be able to sign up for voluntary military service, Kuo said.
The Executive Yuan has called on various agencies, including the CLA, the Ministry of Education, the Council of Agriculture, the National Youth Commission and the Coast Guard Administration to provide job openings for the fairs.
The government had originally promised to provide jobs for 40,000 people at four job fairs to be held around the country. However, that number has risen to more than 80,000 in the past few weeks.
However, the council has been accused of inflating the number of job openings and getting job seekers’ hopes up without providing any real benefits.
Labor associations have called the job fairs a “numbers game” aimed at making job seekers feel better.
“Job seekers scurry to attend job fairs, thinking this could be their big chance,” said Son Yu-lian (孫友聯), secretary-general of the Taiwan Labor Front.
He urged the council to improve local employment service centers instead, so that the unemployed could find jobs without having to travel a long way, only to be crowded out by other job seekers.
Despite the criticism, council officials said they were optimistic about the turnout at the job fairs.
Bureau of Employment and Vocational Training director-general Chen I-min (陳益民) said the fairs would be divided into five areas to provide for the specific needs of job seekers: job openings, skills upgrades for college graduates, employment training, business start-ups and career planning counseling.
“People should not only look for jobs here [at the fairs], but choose the best direction for their lives according to their needs,” he said.
Those planning to attend the fairs can visit the council’s online job bank at www.ejob.gov.tw.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHIH HSIU-CHUAN
‘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 magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
RSS