Wed, Feb 18, 2009 page8

• Imagination needed in hard times

  • By Lu Hsin-chang 盧信昌
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  Last week the Cabinet announced a major job-creation scheme that it said would provide jobs for 77,000 people and keep the unemployment rate below 4.5 percent. Even if each employee only received the minimum wage, a conservative estimate for the cost of this scheme would be about NT$25 billion (US$734 million) — which does not include ancillary costs such as utilities, equipment, human resources and other workplace expenses.

  The civil servants who gave up some of their time during the Lunar New Year holiday to devise this scheme should be commended. Its purpose is to facilitate a smooth reorientation of the economy following the financial crisis, mollify fears of unemployment, offer a new direction for idle workers and help at least some of them to meet the needs of their families. Such concern on the part of government officials is one feature of a civilized society and a sign that our leaders empathize with the public in this time of hardship.

  To be sure, employment figures reported by the Council for Economic Planning and Development and the Council for Labor Affairs are no cause for optimism. In December, the unemployment rate broke through the 5 percent barrier, with most job losses occurring in the information industry. Monthly unemployment rates for the first part of this year are expected to reach 6 percent. Focusing on a target of 4.5 percent or less for the annual unemployment rate, the Cabinet has called on all ministries and departments to do their utmost to bring about an economic upturn in the second half of the year.

  However, if government officials imagine that massive short-term spending to salvage the economy and an ongoing transfusion of cash from the treasury is the best way to proceed, then it is just a reflection of their lack of imagination and lack of a blueprint for the future. In fact, such a hurried increase in spending is diluting ordinary people’s purchasing power and increasing the country’s future fiscal burden.

  Even if the economy improved in the second half of this year, by that time a big group of fresh graduates will enter the job market. One percent unemployment means that 100,000 Taiwanese are having trouble finding a job; at least 200,000 fresh graduates will join the job market in June.

  Given Taiwan’s modernity, as long as there is a will to improve, it should not be too difficult to provide opportunities for employment, study and training. What is needed is a willingness to demand and implement change. In fact, the purpose of production and supply is to satisfy people’s needs and desires. At present, the government is hastily striving to create jobs through the efforts of various ministries and departments, but it does so without sufficient understanding of trends in demand. This will only serve to erode people’s will to work and undermine workplace ethics, as well as distort the allocation of human resources and misdirect training in vocational skills.

  A past example of lifestyle improvement is the case of polystyrene plates, bowls and lunch boxes, which used to be seen everywhere. Seeing no need for esthetic touches at mealtime, most families did not use tablecloths. Our eating habits were unhealthy and caused pollution.

  Now, since the Department of Health banned polystyrene food containers, we can drink hot soymilk without worrying about toxins being released from the bowl and the change has created thousands of dishwashing jobs. Another example is funeral services, which have developed to the level of a cultural service industry.

  A negative example, however, is the previous administration’s idea of subsidizing travel and tourism by issuing the National Travel Card, which was abused by thousands of civil servants who used the credit card to shop for goods.

  Taiwanese have for decades made a virtue of being content with what they had and not demanding much in the way of quality of life. Government departments involved in the commerce sector have all along allowed manufacturers to get away with making excessive claims for their products while failing to implement proper quality control. The result is that Taiwanese products have a poor image internationally and Taiwan’s quality of life has also suffered.

  Since the Tourism Bureau ended its prize-draw scheme for tourists visiting Taiwan at the end of last year, the number of Japanese visitors has dropped by 90,000. As trade protectionism gradually raises its ugly head around the world, it has become all the more important for Taiwan to raise the quality of its export goods.

  We appreciate the government’s good intentions in formulating the job-creation scheme and hope that in doing so they will use the public’s hard-earned tax money in the most effective way to improve everybody’s quality of life and provide training in suitable skills. By making wise use of available resources, the government can build up a motive force for Taiwan’s next economic takeoff.

  Lu Hsin-chang is a professor in the Department of International Business at National Taiwan University.

  TRANSLATED BY JULIAN CLEGG
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