Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) on Wednesday called for the adoption of a legal mechanism allowing the government to subsidize the national labor pension fund.
The fund, managed by the Labor Ministry, is used to distribute pensions for retired workers and has been losing money for years. The Taiwanese government has been providing yearly subsidies to stabilize the fund since 2020, with NT$120 billion (around US$3.7 billion) having been allocated for next year. If the post-pandemic special budget allocation of NT$30 billion is included, then the government has provided a total of NT$267 billion (around US$8.64 billion) in subsidies to the fund.
Su says that Taiwan’s economy has been good in recent years with tax revenue exceeding government spending. This has allowed the government to use subsidies as a means to keep the fund from bankruptcy. However, she says there is currently no permanent legal basis for the government to subsidize the fund and has proposed the adoption of such a legal process moving forward.
Labor Minister Hsu Ming-chun (許銘春) supported the proposal saying that future labor pension reforms should include a provision providing for government subsidies. Hsu also reassured the public that since the labor pension fund is a state-run fund, and as long as the government is involved, the fund will not fail.