A group promoting the rights of the unemployed will launch a 10,000-name petition drive later this month to call on the government to pay attention to their plight, a group official said on Saturday.
Su Chen (蘇諍), convener of the Association of the Human Rights of the Jobless, said the association began planning the petition after the government failed to address a proposal by the group to offer the jobless meal coupons.
A group of middle-aged and elderly jobless people went to the Presidential Office in the middle of last month to ask the government to establish an “eatery for the jobless” with its employment fund.
The Presidential Office turned their request over to the Council of Labor Affairs for deliberation.
Su said the idea of an “eatery” was aimed at feeding the unemployed until they land jobs so they would not be lured into crime by empty stomachs.
“To avoid abuse of the program, the association suggested that only those who have been without jobs for more than one year would be eligible and that they would be required to accept job counseling while receiving the meal coupons,” he said.
In a revised draft of the Employment Insurance Law (性別工作平等法) sent to the Executive Yuan, the council extended the subsidies for the jobless from six months to nine months, but Su said this was “unrealistic” in caring for the long-term jobless.
The association is planning to launch the 10,000-name petition drive on Sunday to coincide with the Mid-Autumn Festival.
The association asked the government to compel school or private eateries to accept the proposed meal coupons for the jobless worth NT$50 each.
Su said the employment insurance fund amounts to about NT$100 billion (US$3.14 billion) and that it should be more than enough to sponsor the “eatery” program.
But the council said the program was more like “social aid” and would be more appropriately handled by social welfare agencies or organizations.
China’s economic planning agency yesterday outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy, but refrained from major spending initiatives. The piecemeal nature of the plans announced yesterday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up a 10 percent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to end 4.59 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 9.41 percent. Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie (鄭珊潔) said the government would frontload 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) in spending from the government’s budget for next year in addition
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
TECH JUGGERNAUT: TSMC shares have more than doubled since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, as demand for cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips remains high Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted a better-than-expected 39 percent rise in quarterly revenue, assuaging concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending is beginning to taper off. The main chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported third-quarter sales of NT$759.69 billion (US$23.6 billion), compared with the average analyst projection of NT$748 billion. For last month alone, TSMC reported revenue jumped 39.6 percent year-on-year to NT$251.87 billion. Taiwan’s largest company is to disclose its full third-quarter earnings on Thursday next week and update its outlook. Hsinchu-based TSMC produces the cutting-edge chips needed to train AI. The company now makes more
Protectionism: US trade chief Katherine Tai said the hikes would help to counter unfair trade practices from China, while boosting domestic clean energy investments US Trade Representative Katherine Tai (戴琪) defended stiff tariff hikes against countries such as China, saying that paired with investment, they were a “legitimate and constructive” tool for reinvigorating domestic industries. Tai’s comments come a week after sharp tariff increases on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), EV batteries and solar cells took effect — with levies down the line on other products also recently finalized. The latest moves targeting US$18 billion in Chinese goods come weeks before next month’s US presidential election, with Democrats and Republicans pushing a hard line on China as competition between Washington and Beijing intensifies. In an interview on Thursday