The Ministry of Labor has proposed allocating more than NT$7 billion (US$228.1 million) in subsidies for parental leave and to cover shortfalls in maternity benefits next year, as part of a wider government plan to tackle Taiwan’s declining birthrate, the ministry’s budget proposal showed.
The ministry today confirmed that a plan is in the works, although added that exact details are still under discussion and would be announced to the public in due course.
The government’s wide-ranging strategy to boost birthrates would require cooperation and resources from eight government agencies: the labor ministry, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Transportation and Communications and Directorate-General of Personnel Administration.
Photo: Taipei Times
Policies would promote comprehensive childcare, family-friendly workplaces, children’s health and protection, and supportive measures for having and raising children, the labor ministry’s proposal showed.
Next year, subsidies for parental leave and shortfalls in maternity benefits would total more than NT$7 billion, a large NT$3.3 billion increase from the figure originally set aside for next year of NT$3.8 billion, it said.
The budget was initially intended to cover parental leave subsidies under the low birthrate response plan and guidelines subsidizing parental leave without pay, although the newly proposed budget would also help to cover shortfalls in maternity benefits offered by employers to incentivize improved benefits, it said.
According to the Labor Insurance Act (勞工保險條例), mothers with insurance may claim maternity benefits equivalent to two months of their salary.
Data from last year revealed that 105,943 applications were issued, with payouts totaling NT$7.5 billion.
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
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