Taiwan aims to lift birth rate
By Ralph Jennings |
April 19, 2010, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
TAIWAN is scrambling to increase its birth rate, among the world's lowest, before the sinking number of newborns threatens productivity for its export-driven US$390 billion economy.
Taiwan had a crude birth rate of 8.3 newborns per 1,000 people last year.
"Without a young generation, there's no labor force, then you lose productivity," said Hu Chung-ying, deputy chief of Taiwan's Council for Economic Planning and Development. "It's a very worrisome issue."
Taiwan's productivity would slide as retirees exceed new workers on the island of 23 million people unless citizens return en masse from abroad or more elderly seek jobs, economists say.
Taiwan people are shunning births in favor of their careers, which often delays marriage or scraps the idea altogether, and to save child-rearing expenses that include baby sitters and education from kindergarten to university.
"Women have changed. Women have expectations of a career," said Linda Arrigo, an American-born Taipei university instructor with a sociology background. "Women can't handle a career with two children plus."
Housing prices are rising fast in parts of Taiwan while wages are stagnant, adding financial pressure to middle-class couples.
Sunny Yen, 42, is a typical case. She and her husband are middle-class white collar workers in Taipei. They decided against a second child after realizing their first would cost NT$20 million (US$630,000) to raise from diapers through college degree.
"If the financial burden were not so high, people might have more children," Yen said. "The government needs to take more practical measures step by step."
Officials can choose from a number of measures, drawing on examples in Europe, Australia and Asia. Choices include more time off, better access to child care, government financial aid and offers of above-market wages to keep the elderly on the payroll.
Cities and counties in Taiwan will come up with subsidy packages for families with newborns, while the government considers a tax break plan, said Hu of the planning council. Scholarships are in the works, and more employers are providing nursing rooms for workers.
The government is also studying a plan to offer parents NT$5,000 a month for each child's first three years, media said.
The government expects its 2010 budget to cover the so far unknown cost of encouraging child births. If it needed more, Taiwan could set up a special budget or reallocate resources, said Tony Phoo, an economist at Standard Chartered in Taipei.
Taiwan had a crude birth rate of 8.3 newborns per 1,000 people last year.
"Without a young generation, there's no labor force, then you lose productivity," said Hu Chung-ying, deputy chief of Taiwan's Council for Economic Planning and Development. "It's a very worrisome issue."
Taiwan's productivity would slide as retirees exceed new workers on the island of 23 million people unless citizens return en masse from abroad or more elderly seek jobs, economists say.
Taiwan people are shunning births in favor of their careers, which often delays marriage or scraps the idea altogether, and to save child-rearing expenses that include baby sitters and education from kindergarten to university.
"Women have changed. Women have expectations of a career," said Linda Arrigo, an American-born Taipei university instructor with a sociology background. "Women can't handle a career with two children plus."
Housing prices are rising fast in parts of Taiwan while wages are stagnant, adding financial pressure to middle-class couples.
Sunny Yen, 42, is a typical case. She and her husband are middle-class white collar workers in Taipei. They decided against a second child after realizing their first would cost NT$20 million (US$630,000) to raise from diapers through college degree.
"If the financial burden were not so high, people might have more children," Yen said. "The government needs to take more practical measures step by step."
Officials can choose from a number of measures, drawing on examples in Europe, Australia and Asia. Choices include more time off, better access to child care, government financial aid and offers of above-market wages to keep the elderly on the payroll.
Cities and counties in Taiwan will come up with subsidy packages for families with newborns, while the government considers a tax break plan, said Hu of the planning council. Scholarships are in the works, and more employers are providing nursing rooms for workers.
The government is also studying a plan to offer parents NT$5,000 a month for each child's first three years, media said.
The government expects its 2010 budget to cover the so far unknown cost of encouraging child births. If it needed more, Taiwan could set up a special budget or reallocate resources, said Tony Phoo, an economist at Standard Chartered in Taipei.
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