The government is seeking to raise the labor participation rate from 59.2 percent to 60.3 percent by 2030, when the nation is expected to be short 400,000 workers, National Development Council Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday.
Kung’s remarks came as Taiwan’s low birthrate shrinks its worker pool and poses a challenge to its economic development.
The nation’s demographic dividend is expected to end in 2028, when the working population is forecast to drop below 66.6 percent of total population, as senior citizens would outnumber children 2:1, Kung said.
Photo: CNA
The situation would deteriorate in 2030, when the labor shortage would reach 400,000 people, which would make it impossible to achieve projected annual economic growth of 3 percent and an unemployment rate of 3.5 percent, he said.
The government has to take steps to address the labor shortage, driven by corporate digitalization, the return of Taiwanese firms from abroad and the expanding semiconductor supply chain, Kung said.
The national-level foreign talent recruitment service center is to broaden its coverage from Gold Card holders to foreign professionals, as well as their spouses and family members, starting in September, he said.
The government is also considering easing immigration rules for foreign students with undergraduate or higher degrees, as well as skilled foreign workers, he added.
Currently, foreign university graduates have to work in Taiwan for five years to apply for permanent residency.
Policymakers are considering lowering the threshold to three years, Kung said.
Domestically, the government is considering postponing the retirement age and has been encouraging young people, married women and older people to join the labor force, he said, adding that the French government’s postponement of the retirement age has received vehement resistance from its citizens.
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