Fri, Jul 28, 2006 page2

• Conference on Sustaining Taiwan's Economic Development: Social group proposes national pension law

  PLANNING AHEAD Given an aging society and a widening income gap, the social security session said a national pension plan should help promote economic security

  • By Jean Lin / STAFF REPORTER
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  The Conference on Sustaining Taiwan's Economic Development's social security session yesterday adopted a set of recommendations, including the goal of enacting a national pension plan law by next year. The law would be part of the government's plan to ensure every citizen a degree of economic security in their retirement.

  The conclusion was reached as approximately 150 government, civic group, business and aca-demic representatives discussed issues covering how to achieve a more comprehensive social welfare system.

  Problems such as the effects of an aging population and a decreasing birth rate have become more pressing in recent years and have exposed more potential problems, such as the lack of a complete long-term care system for the elderly, along with the issue of unequal distribution of income.

  Aging society

  According to figures cited at the session, as of May, 9.85 percent of the population was over the age of 65. Ten years from now, the elderly are expected to account for 13 percent of the population.

  This 13 percent will be equivalent to the percentage of the population under the age of 15. The level also approaches the international standard for an aging society, in which the elderly account for 14 percent of the total population.

  Extrapolating, the figures indicate that in 20 years, the proportion of elderly would exceed 20 percent of the population, and reach 37 percent in less than 50 years.

  Looked at another way, the birth rate decreased to an average of 1.115 children last year, and for every person over the age of 65 there were 7.4 working people.

  The dependency ratio will continue to drop this year to 7.2 to 1, and within 45 years will reach 1.5 to 1, meaning that for every elderly citizen, there will be 1.5 working people, according to conference statistics.

  Participants also resolved to build a long-term care system for the nation's senior citizens.

  Wu Yu-chin (吳玉琴), secretary-general of the Federation for the Welfare of the Elderly, said that long-term care services should not be provided by for-profit organizations, which may choose to care for only certain people and not others because of cost or convenience.

  The elderly, and especially the permanently impaired, often do not have the ability to discern or choose quality services, according to Wu.

  Eva Teng (滕西華), secretary-general of the Alliance for the Mentally Ill, said that social groups hoped that organizations would be willing to abandon seeking only profits when providing care services for children, women and the elderly.

  More industries should participate in providing services to ensure a better overall environment, Teng added.

  The session decided to establish a better educational and care system for children and women.

  Income gap

  The growing gap between the rich and the poor was another topic of intense discussion, with the session concluding that the government would provide more opportunities for minority families.

  Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator David Huang (黃適卓) told the participants that the root of the widening gap was that more people were investing in China, causing stagnation among middle to lower income levels.

  However, Yen Mei-chuan (顏美娟), president of the Home-makers' Union and Foundation, said the government should instead focus first on caring for the children of working-class and minority families because without help, many of these children grow up to pose public safety problems.

  Many are deprived of their basic rights and the widening gap between the rich and the poor will continue if the government does not tackle the problem, Yen said.

  Huang also called for the recognition of women's rights, since currently no women's agency exists directly under the Executive Yuan.

  Instead, women's issues are divided among governmental agencies, meaning they aren't properly discussed.
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