At least 180,000 workers across the nation are on unpaid leave, with those in the high-tech sector the most likely to be given unpaid days off, the Council of Labor Affairs reported yesterday.
The council said the estimate is based on reports on unpaid leave practices that it received from more than 400 companies nationwide between Dec. 23 and Jan. 31.
Since last month, the council has required local enterprises to report the number of their workers on unpaid leave so it can better monitor the impact of falling exports on the labor market.
The council acknowledged that some companies may not have reported workers on unpaid leave to the council, but because the 180,000-worker estimate is similar to the result of a survey conducted last December, the council believes compliance with the reporting system is quite high.
Based on a random survey of companies with more than 200 workers in December, the council estimated that 202,000 workers were being forced to take an average of four days of unpaid leave in that month alone.
The number of workers on full or partial unpaid leave in the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park has reached more than 100,000, accounting for 77 percent of the park’s total work force.
Taiwan’s high-tech, financial and conventional sectors have all been hard hit in the global economic downturn. Some companies, however, tried hard to retain their work forces, using flexible measures such as cutting salaries and putting workers on paid or unpaid leave instead of laying them off.
At a separate setting yesterday, Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟), director of the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Department of Youth Development, warned that the unemployment rate would soar when around 300,000 students graduate in June.
Ryan Wu (吳睿穎), chief operating officer of 1111 Job Bank, told a press conference held by the DPP that an online survey conducted by his organization suggested that 45 percent of college and graduate students leaving school last year were still unable to find first jobs. As around 320,000 graduated last year, Wu said his organization predicted that around 150,000 of them were still out of work.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RICH CHANG
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and