President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday instructed government agencies to be ready for the impact of an influx of new college graduates on unemployment levels.
Ma said that while the government hoped to lower the jobless rate to 5 percent by the end of the year, he expected 200,000 college graduates to enter the job market over the summer and unemployment to increase as a result.
Last month unemployment was 5.39 percent, down 0.28 percentage points from the previous month and the eighth month in a row the jobless rate has fallen, but the figure was still higher than in other Asian countries. Japan's jobless rate was 5 percent, South Korea 3.7 percent and Singapore 2.2 percent. The unemployment rate in Hong Kong was 4.4 percent.
Last month also saw 30,000 more people lose their jobs.
Ma said that first-quarter GDP rose 13.27 percent from a year earlier, posting the highest growth since the fourth quarter of 1978. However, he accepted that the sharp growth had a lot to do with the low comparison base last year.
Emphasizing that the general direction of economic policy is correct, Ma said the economy had picked up, but the administration needed to pay attention to four areas when tackling the economy: improve the employment situation, encourage innovation, save energy and cut carbon emission, as well as participate in economic integration in the Asia-Pacific region.
At a separate setting yesterday, Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) said the government must “put more energy into its effort to get unemployment below 5 percent.”
The Ministry of Education has floated the idea of bringing down the jobless rate by encouraging universities to offer one-year intensive programs to recent graduates, enabling them to continue at school for three more semesters and obtain a second bachelor's degree.
Siew said that “there is nothing bad about government taking over to close the gap” between what industries need and what students learn.
He attributed the bear stock market to the credit crisis in Europe and tension on the Korean Peninsula, but said he did not think it would last too long.
With government debt fast approaching its legal limit, Siew proposed issuing company bonds to raise funds for the construction of the Taoyuan aerotropolis.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
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