Furloughed workers in the manufacturing and service sectors are to be eligible for subsidies starting next year, the Ministry of Labor said yesterday, as the government announced a series of new policies that are to go into effect from next month.
The ministry’s subsidies would benefit workers in the rubber, metal, electronics, auto parts, machinery and optical products manufacturing sectors, as well as tourism and other service sectors, it said in a news release.
Furloughed workers in the targeted sectors in the first half of next year would be eligible for a subsidy equal to 50 percent of their lost income, defined as the difference between their furlough pay and average salary in the three months before being furloughed, it said.
Photo: CNA
Workforce Development Agency employment services division head Wu Shu-ying (吳淑瑛) said the subsidy is capped at NT$9,200 per month.
Employment figures suggest 8,439 workers would benefit from the measure, Wu added.
Meanwhile, an expansion of the government’s “culture points” program, which provides NT$1,200 in stimulus vouchers to young people to participate in cultural activities, goes into effect next month, the Ministry of Culture said yesterday.
The Young Adult Culture Vouchers program, launched in June to boost spending in the nation’s arts and culture sector, was initially limited to people aged 18 to 21, but from Jan. 20 Taiwanese and foreigners with alien resident certificates aged 16 to 22 would be eligible.
About 1 million to 1.5 million people could benefit from the vouchers, which are to be distributed through a cellphone app, the ministry said.
The points, worth NT$1 each, can be redeemed at participating independent bookstores, music stores, record shops, cultural parks, markets and cinemas screening Taiwanese films, it said.
People who buy books through the program would receive a bonus point for every two points they spend at a participating bookstore, while each purchase of a ticket at a performing arts venue or cinema would earn the buyer 100 additional points, it said.
Among the new policies starting next year is the extension of military conscription to one year, which would affect 9,127 draftees who are to start their service on Jan. 25.
The minimum wage is to increase to NT$183 per hour, and NT$27,470 per month, up from NT$26,400 per month, with labor insurance fees to be adjusted accordingly, government notices said.
The retirement age to qualify for full pension payments is to increase to 64, the notices said.
The cost-of-living portion of tax-exempt income is to rise to NT$202,000, up from NT$196,000, while employer-provided meal deductions in corporate taxes are to increase to NT$3,000 per month, up from NT$2,400, they said.
The tax rules go into effect in May, the notices said.
Social welfare benefits including subsidies for low-income families, national pension payouts and entitlements for elderly farmers are to rise NT$143 to NT$1,190, which would affect about 3.08 million recipients, they said.
The tax exempt portion of gross consolidated income is to be NT$97,000, up from NT$92,000, while standard deductions are to increase to NT$131,000 for each person, up from NT$124,000, they said.
Tax exemptions for rent are to be changed from a standard deduction to an itemized deduction, which increases the theoretical amount of deductions a household can apply for, while the limit on the deductible amount is to rise to NT$180,000, they said.
The amended tax rules would affect tax filings in 2025, the notices said.
Parents who use public childcare facilities are to receive NT$7,000 per month, up from NT$5,500, while those who send their child to a semipublic childcare facility are to receive NT$13,000, up from NT$8,500, they said.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS