Premier Jiang Yi-huah today requested relevant government agencies to go all-out to prevent a future labor shortage caused by a projected decline in Taiwan's working-age population.
Population policy is the basis of public policy, manpower planning and talent cultivation and is closely related with national competitiveness, Jiang said after hearing the Council for Economic Planning and Development's (CEPD) report on the policy challenges posed by ongoing demographic change at today's political affairs meeting.
"With Taiwan experiencing a low fertility rate and aging population, relevant agencies must place great importance on several major issues: labor shortages, the late employment and early retirement of workers, and brain drain," said the premier. He requested ministries to go all-out, think outside the box, and plan and enact population policies without hesitation.
Premier Jiang instructed the CEPD to present a list of concrete population policy proposals and agencies with jurisdiction over these areas to work out corresponding measures within one month for implementation within one year. He also requested Vice Premier Mao Chi-kuo to conduct preliminary screening and coordination for this initiative.
The premier cited six examples of directions for these plans to pursue:
- Studying how to enable vocational school students to enter the job market earlier
- Making sure of the transformation and exit mechanisms for universities and colleges
- Enacting complementary measures for ethnic Chinese students from overseas to stay and work in Taiwan after graduation to replenish Taiwan's labor force
- Taking stock of the needs of domestic industries, making forward-looking plans, and relaxing limitations on the immigration of investors and skilled workers
- Fast-tracking the resolution of problems caused by the early retirement of laborers such as pension burdens and manpower shortages
- Placing emphasis on the regulatory system for new forms of employment such as Internet jobs and on the cultivation and recruitment of related talents
The swift increase in senior citizens and decline of the birthrate are becoming more significant by the day, as the nation's population is quickly aging and the working population is projected to shrink in the future, the CEPD said.
According to its projections, the labor force will peak at 17.38 million in 2015 and then steadily decline, falling to 9.6 million in 2060. The proportion of the working-age population, defined as those age 15 to 64, peaked in 2012; conversely, the dependency ratio (the proportion of citizens not of working age) reached its lowest level then. The average age of Taiwanese will increase over the next several years, as will the average age of laborers.
Senior citizens of the future will be highly educated thanks to universal education, however, and could be important resources for sustainable social and industrial development, the CEPD pointed out. Hence, agencies must work together to formulate policies to take advantage of this manpower while also introducing an appropriate level of foreign talent to meet developmental needs and ameliorate the looming productivity shortage, it said.