Taiwan’s social protection expenditure (SPE) last year picked up 3.1 percent to NT$2.63 trillion (US$80.89 billion), with social benefits comprising 98.6 percent, as the population ages, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said on Monday.
Social protection, or social security, provides benefits to people on the basis of risks faced across a life cycle — including unemployment, disability and maternity — and to those suffering general poverty and social exclusion, the statistics agency said, adding that it arrived at the figures based on the International Labour Organization and Social Security Inquiry.
SPE rose as more people claimed retirement benefits, health insurance coverage grew more expensive and demand for long-term care services expanded, the DGBAS said.
Photo courtesy of New Taipei City Department of Health
At the same time, the government spent more money to finance benefits for education, housing and childcare, as well as stepped up rent subsidy for people who cannot afford to buy their own house, it said.
SPE constituted 11.2 percent of GDP, holding steady from a year earlier, although per capita expenditure climbed by NT$3,268, the DGBAS said.
Cash rose 1.1 percent to NT$1.39 trillion, accounting for 53.6 percent of overall social benefits, while social transfers in kind (education, healthcare, transportation and other services) gained 5.4 percent to 46.4 percent at NT$1.2 trillion, it said.
Old-age benefits accounted for the biggest chunk of the expenditure at 46.9 percent (NT$1.22 trillion), followed by benefits to support illness and healthcare at 34.8 percent (NT$903.7 billion), benefits for family and children at 7.4 percent and other benefits at 3 percent, the DGBAS said.
These were largely due to more people retiring from work and demand for long-term care services increasing, it said.
By measure of increase, housing benefits nearly doubled, or up NT$22.7 billion, as the government lowered the criteria for rent subsidy, the agency said.
Further, the government expanded transportation benefits to more commuters, it said.
Social benefits for older people are bound to surge, as Taiwan would become a super-aged society next year, when more than 20 percent of the population is aged 65 or older, according to the National Development Council.
The trend means a larger number of people would retire and claim retirement benefits and a bigger portion would need long-term care services, the DGBAS said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) would not produce its most advanced technologies in the US next year, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the comment during an appearance at the legislature, hours after the chipmaker announced that it would invest an additional US$100 billion to expand its manufacturing operations in the US. Asked by Taiwan People’s Party Legislator-at-large Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) if TSMC would allow its most advanced technologies, the yet-to-be-released 2-nanometer and 1.6-nanometer processes, to go to the US in the near term, Kuo denied it. TSMC recently opened its first US factory, which produces 4-nanometer
PROTECTION: The investigation, which takes aim at exporters such as Canada, Germany and Brazil, came days after Trump unveiled tariff hikes on steel and aluminum products US President Donald Trump on Saturday ordered a probe into potential tariffs on lumber imports — a move threatening to stoke trade tensions — while also pushing for a domestic supply boost. Trump signed an executive order instructing US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to begin an investigation “to determine the effects on the national security of imports of timber, lumber and their derivative products.” The study might result in new tariffs being imposed, which would pile on top of existing levies. The investigation takes aim at exporters like Canada, Germany and Brazil, with White House officials earlier accusing these economies of
GREAT SUCCESS: Republican Senator Todd Young expressed surprise at Trump’s comments and said he expects the administration to keep the program running US lawmakers who helped secure billions of dollars in subsidies for domestic semiconductor manufacturing rejected US President Donald Trump’s call to revoke the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, signaling that any repeal effort in the US Congress would fall short. US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who negotiated the law, on Wednesday said that Trump’s demand would fail, while a top Republican proponent, US Senator Todd Young, expressed surprise at the president’s comments and said he expects the administration to keep the program running. The CHIPS Act is “essential for America leading the world in tech, leading the world in AI [artificial
REACTIONS: While most analysts were positive about TSMC’s investment, one said the US expansion could disrupt the company’s supply-demand balance Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) new US$100 billion investment in the US would exert a positive effect on the chipmaker’s revenue in the medium term on the back of booming artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from US chip designers, an International Data Corp (IDC) analyst said yesterday. “This is good for TSMC in terms of business expansion, as its major clients for advanced chips are US chip designers,” IDC senior semiconductor research manager Galen Zeng (曾冠瑋) said by telephone yesterday. “Besides, those US companies all consider supply chain resilience a business imperative,” Zeng said. That meant local supply would
RSS