Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers yesterday called on President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to fulfill her campaign pledge of giving young Taiwanese hope for a better future.
TPP Legislator Andy Chiu (邱臣遠) said that none of Tsai’s campaign promises for young people, such as education, housing, employment and entrepreneurship support, have been realized.
From 2016 to this year, the Youth Development Administration’s budget allocated NT$21.6 per young person per year on average, Chiu said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The agency has been unable to agree on a definition for “young people,” he said, adding that it is no wonder the agency tasked with promoting youth affairs nationwide cannot set aside adequate resources to achieve the goal as it cannot identify who it is meant to benefit.
The unemployment rate for those aged 20 to 24 was 13.41 percent in June, while it was 7.58 percent for those aged 25 to 29 and 4.52 percent for those aged 30 to 34, Chiu said, citing Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics data.
These figures are the highest in the past 10 years, indicating that Tsai’s policy to “support youth people in finding employment” has failed, while her “support young people in getting an education” pledge has led to students being saddled with student loans, Chiu said.
TPP Legislator Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如) said that salaries are not keeping up with the housing market and people are unable to sustain mortgage payments or save money.
In 2011, those aged 30 to 35 were the primary group making their first real-estate purchases, but a decade later, people are delaying making such purchases until they are 35 to 40, she said, citing Joint Credit Information Center data.
Tsai Pi-ru said that she has also received many complaints from young people about how they cannot get inoculated and are not eligible to apply for the COVID-19 pandemic relief program, even though they form the majority of the workforce.
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