《TAIPEI TIMES》 Approved incentives seek to help gr

REDUCING PRESSURE: The measures come as concern rises over the effect of COVID-19 restrictions on youth employment, as they were enacted around graduation

By Lee Hsin-fang and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a suite of incentive measures to help recent graduates find and maintain stable employment amid concerns that COVID-19 pandemic measures have made it harder for graduates to find work.

The program includes a variety of subsidies that are expected to help about 180,000 young people in all stages of the job search, the Ministry of Labor told a Cabinet hearing on the proposal.

To help ease financial pressures while looking, recent graduates would be entitled to a monthly job search allowance of NT$10,000 （US$359） for up to three months.

Graduates who find a job before the end of the next month would receive a reward of up to NT$30,000 if they keep the job for six months, with the first NT$20,000 paid out after three months.

Those referred by a public employment services agency would get a NT$20,000 reward, with half paid out after two months and the rest after four months, while employers who hire a recent graduate referred by an agency would be entitled to a bonus of up to NT$30,000.

Young people who are still unable to find a job after six months would be provided three free employment consultation sessions.

Once they find a job and hold it for at least six months, they could then receive the NT$30,000 reward.

For those looking to undertake additional training, the ministry would also provide grants under two schemes.

The New Industry Pioneer Program aims to connect young people with appropriate training programs in key industries with an emphasis on practical application.

A maximum grant of NT$100,000 would be available for tuition expenses, while trainees could receive a stipend of NT$8,000 per month for up to a year to ease financial pressures while pursuing training.

The Flagship Youth Employment Program would encourage businesses to “hire first and train later” by providing employers a training subsidy of NT$12,000 per month for up to nine months.

Under the program, senior employees would serve as workplace mentors to give new hires the chance to learn on the job.

To ease student loan burdens, the Ministry of Education would relax the threshold for deferring principal and interest payments by doubling the permitted number of applications for a deferral to eight times within eight years, for up to 16 years of no principal payments.

The policy would reduce the monthly loan repayment burden by more than 90 percent, the labor ministry said.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Economic Affairs has raised the amount of preferential loans for youth entrepreneurship from NT$35 billion to NT$60 billion, while loan applications for less than NT$1 million made before the end of the year would come with more incentives.

The suite of measures comes as concern rises over the effect of the pandemic on youth employment, as restrictions were implemented over the graduation season.

Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics data last month showed the highest unemployment rate in 11 years, 4.8 percent, led by people aged 20 to 24 with a jobless rate of 13.41 percent, compared with 12.01 percent in June last year and 11.89 percent in June 2018.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES