If you were forced out of work, and no opportunities arose despite your efforts to find a job, would you consider vocational training? Not only is the training free, you can pick up an NT$10,000 per month subsidy. For those discouraged by the job market, why not forget for a moment your disappointments and ask yourself what you really need, and what kind of help you can get from government agencies?

In traditional society, hard work was the only way to make a living, those who lost their jobs had nowhere to turn, and few people gave any thought to how the unemployed might be helped. However, in this modern era of rapid change in the labor market, no matter how diligent or capable one may be, everyone is susceptible to meeting career setbacks. Various measures and services directed toward unemployment, career change, and job-seeking have become increasingly important.

Improve your skills

At the end of June of this year, though the unemployment problem was becoming increasingly visible, at a conference sponsored by the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD), a proposal for unemployment insurance (put forward by the Council of Labor Affairs) was rejected. It seems that many people still have the mindset that "unemployment insurance will hamper national competitiveness and encourage laziness in young people."

"For those out of work, unemployment insurance is just a stop-gap, short-term way of getting by. If this measure cannot be implemented, then there are others that can be," says Chan Huo-sheng, vice-chairman of the Council of Labor Affairs. Chan was not especially disappointed by the outcome, and there are no plans to try to overturn the decision in the near term. Instead, beginning on July 1, the CLA will expand implementation of the "Unemployment Guidance Measures," providing a somewhat higher level of protection for the unemployed.

In the new unemployment guidance program, laid-off workers (between the ages of 16 and 60) can register with their city or county governments' bureaus of labor affairs for help in finding employment. If the government cannot find appropriate work for the individual within one week, he or she can accept temporary employment with the government, for example helping out in a government office, or doing sanitation work. The individual can collect NT$600 per working day, up to 25 working days a month. Otherwise, he or she could accept vocational training, with a monthly subsidy of NT$10,000. If the individual has dependents, then an additional NT$5000 is available.

However, regardless of whether the individual chooses work or training, the longest period of time they can receive money is six months. And there is another requirement-one cannot refuse a job offered by the government "without reasonable grounds."

What are "reasonable grounds" for refusing a job set up by the government? One is that the salary offered is less than 2/3 that of one's previous job. Another is that the job differs from one's original field. And a third is that the job is more than 30 kilometers from one's place of residence.

Developing diversification

As Chan explains, in theory there are three elements to policies to help the jobless-vocational training, employment guidance, and unemployment insurance. The first two are so-called "active" measures, while unemployment insurance is considered "passive." The recent rejection of unemployment insurance, coupled with new training programs, reflects the desire to encourage workers whose skills have become irrelevant to get out and acquire new skills.

Currently there are 13 large training centers in Taiwan, which are run variously by the CLA's Employment and Vocational Training Administration (EVTA), provincial and municipal governments, the National Youth Commission, and the Vocational Assistance Commission for Retired Servicemen. When the unemployment rate was low and there was no unemployment problem to speak of, the centers not only adopted a policy of accepting all comers, they also had enough extra places to offer work-study training for middle school students.

Today the job market is much tighter, and-considering that one can get a cash subsidy, eliminating worries about getting by day-to-day-there is already an upward trend in the number of people signing up for vocational training. In fact, especially popular classes like those related to computers are already overbooked.

Generally speaking, training is not the top priority choice for the unemployed. On the one hand, in the past there was no subsidy, so workers with families to support had to be practical and find any job as quickly as possible. On the other hand, "there are too few large public training centers. Moreover, they are not evenly distributed. Many counties and cities, such as Ilan, Miaoli, Changhua, and Yunlin, have none. It's rather a lot to ask workers to run here and there far from home," says legislator and labor activist Chien Hsi-chieh. In the future, vocational training should be "put where it is needed." That is to say, existing resources in each city and county, such as technical schools and factories, should be put to maximum use, so that the unemployed can get training right nearby.

Localizing training is of course a good idea, and the EVTA has already signed contracts with more than 50 public and private training institutions to provide programs. However, the items offered by these commissioned institutions are mainly those the EVTA is not especially good at, or those related to the service industry or for the handicapped. For example, Shih Chien College has been commissioned to offer a "Household Management Training Class," while schools for the blind and mentally retarded offer classes in massage, piano tuning, and the like.

Lin Tsong-ming, director of the EVTA, whose budget is already stretched, admits that the EVTA does not have enough money for teachers, and that it will be difficult to increase the number of training centers and distribute them more widely. What's more, this year's budget was determined last year, when no one anticipated the current increase in the unemployment rate.

It has been difficult for government agencies to adapt to the sudden rise in joblessness. Another case in point is the problem of vocational training for the older unemployed.

Building guard? Computer operator?

Ever since the Securities and Exchange Commission last year approved "Accounting Declaration #18," which mandated that companies listed in the stock market have to set aside funds for employee retirement, the business community has been extremely apprehensive. According to the Labor Standards Law, provisions for a retirement payment state that companies must give retirees two months of salary (calculated at time of retirement) for each of the employee's first fifteen years in the company. After 15 years, the rate is reduced to one month's salary per year of service.

This rule makes retirement payments far higher than severance payments, which call for a flat one month's salary per year of service. Small and medium-sized firms cannot afford to pay retirement at all, and even large corporations would have trouble coming up with this money. Rather than pay retirement outlays, it has long been an unannounced policy of many businesses to simply lay off older workers as often as possible.

Among the older unemployed, it is in fact very easy for unskilled manual laborers to find new jobs. But for those who were in middle management with substantial salaries, it is much harder to find comparable work. Moreover, this trend of laying off middle managers is just getting started, and may become increasingly serious. Yet, looking at the current offerings in vocational training, subjects like mechanic training, electrician training, and hair dressing are not very suitable for them.

The only two vocational training items currently on offer that are appropriate for the older unemployed are "building super-intendency" and "computer operation." What kind of training would be more suitable for the older unemployed? It was only recently that the CLA began to study the matter, and results are not yet in.

"With regard to the future job market and characteristics of the unemployed, we will work to develop new occupational categories." Though such future measures are of little immediate help, the direction Lin Tsong-ming is pointing to is already quite clear. By the year 2000, it is expected that the number of vocational training programs offered for service professions will increase from the current 35% to 55%. Specialized subjects like finance, insurance, accounting, and management will all be added to the curriculum.

An old-fashioned new trend

In fact, with the general rise in the level of education in Taiwan, "people should be prepared for the fact that vocational training is not something that is only necessary for the unemployed. There should be lifetime education. Besides continuing to study in one's field, a person should cultivate a second or even a third specialty," says Peng Tai-lin of the National Youth Commission (NYC).

In other words, when one skill is no longer employable, a person must have other qualifications to make a living. For example, editors in publishing companies might consider learning how to do computer layout work or advertising copy. Since enterprise managers already have modern management skills, if they get laid off they might consider opening up a convenience store. In these ways the fear of unemployment can be minimized. In particular, working people should learn how to manage their money correctly, and not speculate with it. They must be careful not to lose their savings, accumulated through 20 years of hard work, which is their capital to change professions or start a new business if they lose their jobs.

At the same time, notes Peng, in the high-tech, highly competitive, rapidly changing labor market of the future, job security will be increasingly threatened. Some manpower might be laid off immediately after completing a certain phase of work, and these might be exactly the kinds of people some other enterprise is looking for. Providing large amounts of employment information and smoothing the channels for the search for talent and for openings are the best ways to reduce the time lost on both sides as they seek what they want from the other.

The NYC, which mainly assists those with college and university educations, is already putting employment information on the Internet. It is estimated that more than 10,000 people use the service daily. Soon the NYC will produce a "job handbook," in hopes that it will become the "most important job introduction center in the country." Moreover, various cities and counties have many programs to help people of only average education to find jobs.

Director Wang of the Employment Services Center, under the Taipei City Bureau of Labor Affairs, has more than a decade of experience in employment guidance. He has a number of ideas, based on front-line experience, about the unemployment problem. He has noticed a clear decline in the demand for workers over the past year or so. Also, whereas in the past company heads would usually accept people recommended by the Center without saying a word, these days they set more conditions.

"The job market has already changed from a seller's market to a buyer's market," sighs Director Wang. Businessmen have acute judgment and are well-informed, whereas many young people looking for work are still muddling along without being aware of labor market trends, so they are picky and don't value the opportunities they are given.

"If job-seekers do not appropriately lower their expectations, I'm afraid they will spend a long period in 'voluntary unemployment.' Then they will be even less able to adapt to the market, and it will be even harder to find work," he says with concern.

As the shadow of unemployment hangs over the real world, perhaps a brief review of the history of work can put the unemployed more at ease.

In the book JobShift, published last year, the American author William Bridges points out that in the agricultural society of the pre-19th century, most people had no particular position, nor did they get a fixed salary from any employer. In Chinese society, for example, when things were busy down on the farm, people went into the fields. And during slack times, they would take odd jobs, weave, raise silkworms, or whatever. When necessary, people have long been able to adapt and change their jobs.

Put this way, the concept of work as being "one hole for each peg" and "one action for each command" is a new idea, a product of the era of mass-production industrial society. The "post-industrial" ideals of multiple skills, self-reliance, adaptability and flexibility are actually all old-fashioned ideas now coming back into vogue. It is inevitable that Taiwan will also move in this direction, so those in the job market should make their preparations early.

p.39

A skill is better than a diploma. The photo shows a class for electricians at the vocational training center set up on Keelung's Hoping Island by the Employment and Vocational Training Administration. (photo by Pu Hua-chih)