The National Development Council (NDC) of Taiwan revealed that the national working population will be highest this year in 2015, and from 2016 onwards, when comparing the number of workers in the labour market with the population of non-workers, it will decrease by an average of 180,000 people annually. It is forecasted that the population of Taiwan will decrease in 2022, whereby the year 2061 will see a worker to elderly needing support ratio of 1.2:1, which is considered very high. With Taiwan experiencing a progressively decreasing birthrate and increasingly ageing society, this will result in more employers and thus has become an urgent issue that Taiwan must address.
During 2014, the Taiwanese Administrative Council amended policies to increase number of employers and relax policies on migrants for greater mobility. The target is that before 2020, the number of workers will increase to 60 percent of the total population, also raising the ratio of female workers to 53 percent of the working population. As for policies on employment of young adults, Taiwan will promote education and employment to have a larger variety, whereby not promoting education to the completion of a Bachelor or Master’s Degree before working, but integrating education and employment as one. This is so that young adults can return to continue education, even after working, or can do both simultaneously. Presently, many Taiwanese women upon marriage, have children and retire from work to become housewives, which has caused the number of middle-aged working women to be low. Taiwan has identified that if flexible working hours can be in place, promotion of kindergartens to care for small children and adjustments for better working environments are made, this will encourage this group of women to return to the workforce once again.
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Labour Office in Taipei
