Labor groups reacted with skepticism to a recent announcement by the Council of Labor Affairs that it would continue offering labor insurance loans to the financially disadvantaged, saying it was sending mixed messages about employment and poverty.
Under the program, now in its eighth year, the council provides loans drawn from the National Labor Insurance Fund to low-income families to help them through the Lunar New Year holidays.
Individuals in financial difficulty who have no previously unpaid debt to the fund and have been insured under the National Labor Insurance Program for at least 15 years are eligible to apply, the council said.
Applicants can apply for a loan of up to NT$100,000 (US$3,283), with an annual interest rate of between 1.4 percent and 1.5 percent.
The interest rate, which includes a small processing fee, is only slightly higher than the average deposit rate of the fund, the officials said.
The council has set aside a budget of NT$20 billion for the loan program this year, meaning that as many as 200,000 individuals could benefit.
The council is expected to officially announce the program at the end of next month and will begin accepting applications from January. Approved loans will be paid out to workers before the Lunar New Year holiday in February.
However, labor groups remained skeptical about the loan program.
Taiwan Labor Front secretary-general Son Yu-lian (孫友聯) said the council was sending a mixed message by hailing improved employment numbers while saying that many workers continued to live in poverty and needed a financial boost to make it through the Lunar New Year.
“[The council] claims the economy has gradually improved and that many jobs have been created by the private sector, but at the same time, the council continues to offer to lend money to the poor,” he said.
Rather than make a big show of offering the loans and commending itself on lowered unemployment figures, the council should focus on improving the quality of jobs on offer, Son said.
The fact that the number of people who have recently joined the non-working population has increased by more than 9,000, Son said, begs the question of whether the number of unemployed has truly decreased, or whether some people have become so frustrated with their search for employment that they have simply opted out of the workforce.
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