Civic groups on Wednesday welcomed the government’s planned expansion of parental leave policies aimed at addressing the low birthrate, but cautioned that monthly child-rearing subsidies alone are unlikely to significantly boost fertility.
Their response came after President William Lai (賴清德) announced plans to expand maternity and paternity leave, and to provide a monthly NT$5,000 subsidy for children up to 18 years old as part of a broader strategy to tackle the declining birthrate.
Part of the subsidy would be deposited into a “future account” intended to help children build savings for university tuition and other expenses, Lai said in a speech marking the second anniversary of his first term in office.
Photo: AP
The Childcare Policy Alliance in a statement said that reforms such as expanded childcare leave and proposed subsidies for companies to hire temporary replacement workers could help encourage employers to create more family-friendly workplaces, although the measures could face resistance from those without children.
“Without reform, overworked Taiwan will never achieve compatibility between work and parenting,” the alliance said, adding that studies have repeatedly shown such compatibility is a prerequisite for raising the birthrate.
At the same time, the group warned that direct cash subsidies for child-rearing alone have produced limited results in other nations, citing a Polish program which offered similar payments until children reached adulthood. Poland’s birthrate rose from below 1.3 to 1.45, before falling again two years later.
Separately, the Executive Yuan is set to review a broader “0-to-18 full support plan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said on Tuesday.
The proposed package includes expanding flexible parental leave into a broader “childcare leave” system available until a child turns six, along with housing tax incentives for parents, and revisions to marriage, maternity and paternity leave policies.
Under the flexible parental leave system, employees with children younger than three can apply for leave in units of days rather than months, and receive subsidies covering 80 percent of their salary for up to 30 days per year.
The alliance also urged the government to ensure that reforms are grounded in gender equality.
It cited the examples of Japan and South Korea, both of which expanded paternity leave to four weeks in an effort to encourage fathers to share childcare responsibilities from the time a child is born.
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