Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung
(right) and Director of Labor
Affairs Bureau Ho-ting Huang
(left) host the Youth
Employment PLUS press
conference, sparing
no effort to support youth
employment.

The Labor Affairs Bureau
undertakes job matching for
job applicants.

Youth Employment PLUS

The first-ever incentive bonus for stable youth employment

Words by Chi Wen-yang Translated by Alicia Yu
Photos by Labor Affairs Bureau of Taichung City Government

In March, Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung wore a suit, tailored by his father when he was still alive, to announce--as a tailor's son--the new comprehensive employment service program, "Youth Employment PLUS". "Bringing a sense of happiness to youth is the responsibility of the city government team," declared the mayor as he unveiled this program, which offers the first-ever "Incentive Bonus for Stable Youth Employment" in the hope of helping Taichung young people successfully enter the workplace after graduation and find stable jobs.

Mr. Chiu, who majored in environmental engineering management and just completed his military service on February 10, was registering for job applications at the Dali Employment Services Center on February 13 when officer Pao-li Huang informed him of the good news that the Incentive Bonus for Stable Youth Employment had just been implemented two days earlier. Upon hearing the news, Chiu was extremely happy and noted, "This good news should be spread so that more people know." Having a very clear idea of what work he was seeking, he had been taking part-time jobs during his studies, successfully received a sales representative job offer from a big LED firm on February 24, and formally entered the workforce the very next day. In Chiu's opinion, the new incentive bonus provides tremendous assistance to job-hunting young people, especially recent graduates just entering the workforce, and will definitely help them find long-term employment.

To encourage Taichung youth to find steady jobs, the Labors Affairs Bureau offers an unprecedented variety of Incentive Bonuses for Stable Youth Employment. Individuals under the age of 29 who are registered permanent residents of Taichung City can--if recommended by the Employment Service Office and having found steady employment for three months--receive a NT$10,000 incentive bonus. If they can remain steadily employed for six months, they will receive an additional NT$12,000 for a maximum total of NT$22,000 per person. This incentive bonus is expected to decrease the employment turnover rate among young people and assist them in their career development.

A survey conducted by the Executive Yuan's Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics notes that the unemployment rate among youth between the ages of 15 and 24 is 12.63%, over three times higher than the average unemployment rate (3.96%). Mayor Lin observes that today's youth often change their jobs several times per year. Despite the saying, "A rolling stone gathers no moss", changing jobs too frequently can lead to employer doubts and hiring hesitation, and negatively affects a young person's working capacity as well.

The mayor's father was a tailor who had to endure several years of tough apprenticeship to learn the right tailoring skills and work attitudes before becoming a qualified, independent tailor. Lin remembers that, although life was difficult during that apprenticeship, those years of training were the very reason his father could later support his family with his specialty. Thus, he suggests that youth take advantage of the first two years in the workplace to commit themselves to developing basic skills such as tact and interpersonal skills in order to lay a solid foundation for future success.

Basic skills practice before entering the workforce
Such comprehensive employment measures help young job seekers successfully enter the workforce. Having served as an employment service officer for 12 years, Pao-li Huang says she has encountered many young people who are hunting for jobs after graduation and are puzzled and with no direction regarding what they want to do. However, those with part-time job experience will enter the workforce more quickly. Therefore, she utilizes accessible resources at hand related to job-hunting assistance during discussions with job applicants in order to provide them with more personalized services. This helps ensure that young people just entering the workforce will not easily give up their current jobs because of their peers or working environments.

One of the youthful job applicants who impressed her the most was a young man afflicted with epilepsy. Although he had taken medication long-term and had his condition well under control, his overly-direct communication style and physical condition repeatedly caused him difficulty in finding employment so that he couldn't find a job, even six or seven years after graduating from vocational high school. In this case, Huang made use of the Employment Empowerment Program to help him first work for six months at the Employment Service Office and give him immediate assistance towards improving his interpersonal skills inthe workplace. Then she helped him successfully find a steady job, where he has been in stable employment for over a year.

Mayor Lin notes that Taichung is a young city, with residents between the ages of 15 and 29 accounting for 21.6% of the entire population. Youth Employment PLUS--an all-around employment service program especially designed for young people by the city government--includes four steps: career planning and future exploration (Plan); career navigation and direction positioning (Lead); skill improvement and position upgrading (Upgrade); and active workforce participation and employment success (Success). Besides creating positive employment environments, these more heart-felt policies related to employment advancement should be further expanded. By offering incentive bonuses and comprehensive employment services, it is anticipated that the employment hopes and ideals of young graduates can be realized, even as their agility in the workplace is strengthened.

Other employment advancement plans include other varied services such as career development resources, multi-dimensional activities for promoting employment and job matching. In the meantime, these initiatives also improve youth peoples' abilities regarding career planning, job hunting, competitive employment, workplace adaptation and goal actualization, enabling them to do their best and demonstrate their skills and talents in the workplace.

All-around youth career planning assistance
Wang Hsiao-hsien, head of the Taichung City Government Labor Affairs Bureau-affiliated Employment Security Section, notes that within a working week after the Incentive Bonus for Stable Youth Employment was announced on February 11, there were over 40 recommended job applicants and up to 122 recommended job vacancies, with five people successfully employed. Wang points out that the city government has set up a Career Development Center to serve as an all-around platform for resource integration, offering professional career counseling, integrated resource links and a wealth of information about the labor market. The center also holds multi-faceted career-development activities to help young people plan out their working lives.

In addition, besides visiting campuses to hold large-scale job fairs, businesses visits, and on-site recruitment activities, the city government has released the first-ever "Mobile Job-Hunting GPS Service" integrating job opportunities with Taichung city map information, allowing users to search for job opportunities in their areas. At the same time, an evaluation of relatively disadvantaged youth allows the city government to also offer living and rental subsidies to stabilize their economic situations while they're job hunting or in initial stages of employment.