Premier William Lai (賴清德) is to announce a set of new policies to solve the “five industrial shortages” and a draft amendment to the “one fixed day off and one flexible rest day” labor policy next month, and the premier is planning a countrywide visit to discuss the needs of the nation’s 22 cities and counties in terms of infrastructure and medical care.
The Cabinet yesterday said that Lai would hold five news conferences on five consecutive days starting from Nov. 6 to announce solutions for each of the “five shortages,” which include shortages of power, water, land, workforce and skilled workers.
Some policies are still being discussed, Lai said, asking Cabinet members not to reveal policies that have not been finalized.
Completed policies should be formally announced at the press conference to help the public understand the government’s planning and determination, he added.
The news conferences will be an opportunity for communication with the public, Cabinet deputy spokeswoman Chang Hsiu-chen (張秀禎) quoted Lai as saying.
The Cabinet is to propose an amendment to the controversial five-day workweek policy toward the middle of next month, Lai said, as he met with a group of business leaders led by General Chamber of Commerce chairman Lai Cheng-yi (賴正鎰), who called on the Cabinet to revise the labor law immediately.
Lai did not reveal the details of the draft amendment, but said that “the principle of the revision is to strike a balance between protecting workers’ rights and ensuring business flexibility.”
He urged the chamber to encourage businesses to follow the lead of the government in offering a pay raise to their employees, as the Cabinet’s recently-announced 3 percent pay raise for public employees aimed to achieve an across-the-board salary bump in a bid to boost domestic consumption and the economy.
Economic indices have been optimistic, with the TAIEX exceeding the 10,000-point benchmark for more than 100 days and foreign institutional investors in “buy” mode for 11 consecutive days, Lai said.
Last month’s unemployment rate of 3.77 percent presented a 17-year low, while the average starting salary has risen to NT$28,000, moving away from the NT$22,000 level, he added.
Exports and imports last month hit record highs, suggesting that trade is gaining momentum, Lai said.
Meanwhile, Chang said that to speed up the implementation of the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program and public long-term care services, the premier would schedule a countrywide trip, visiting every city and county to learn the needs of each municipality.
Lai will begin by visiting the outlying islands and is to visit Matsu shortly, as he has already visited Penghu and Kinmen counties, Chang said.
Lai will then proceed from Pingtung County in the extreme south to Taitung, Hualien and Yilan on the east coast, before returning south to Kaohsiung and traveling northward, she said.
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