Facing Bankruptcy of Labor Pension Fund, the Gov’t Should Initiate Reform ASAP

 Facing Bankruptcy of Labor Pension Fund, the Gov’t Should Initiate Reform ASAP

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

February 17, 2019
 Translation of an Excerpt

The labor fund, on which hinges the pension protection of around ten million laborers, last month reported a loss of nearly a hundred billion NT dollars because of last year’s stock market slump. Although the Labor Ministry denied the story and pointed out that the losses were recovered later, the labor pension fund indeed has a structural problem of being in the red; according to the actuarial report in the past, labor pension finances will go bankrupt in 2027. The latest actuarial report of the Labor Ministry has already been completed, although it has not yet been made public; however, according to the trends, the timing of bankruptcy will be advanced instead of being postponed.

Under political considerations, the Tsai government chose to turn a blind eye to the bankruptcy crisis of the labor pension fund. When the Tsai government pushed for pension reform for the military, civil servants, and public school teachers, its approach was both coarse and brash, eliciting a vehement backlash; after the DPP suffered a stunning defeat in the nine-in-one local elections last year end, the review report believed that it had something to do with the pension reform. When any pension fund suffers losses, the government should undertake reform as soon as possible; however, as far as the DPP is concerned, the military, civil servants, and public school teachers are not its main supporters, and for this reason, it pushed for reforms in a high-handed manner. Nevertheless, for the financial problem of labor pension, which poses a greater impact and involves much more people, with advantages and disadvantages affecting close to ten million laborers, and are the important source of support for the DPP, it dares not cavalierly initiate reform. Before the presidential election next year, probably nobody will be willing to tackle this issue.

The timing of bankruptcy for labor pension finances has been placed on the table, affecting nearly 10 million laborers; the problem is thus more serious than the pension reform for the military, civil servants, and public school teachers, and entangling a much wider scope. When the Tsai government initiated the last wave of reform, labor pension was on list of reforms to be pushed. However, after the pension reform for the military, civil servants, and public school teachers, this issue suddenly became "utterly quiet"; the Tsai government should honestly face the financial problem of labor pension, demonstrating the force of execution in pushing for the last wave of pension reform for the military, civil servants, and public school teachers, pushing for labor pension reform as soon as possible to rescue it from the bankruptcy crisis. Otherwise, wouldn’t it substantiate the accusations of the outside circles that the Tsai government used the name of pension reform to punish the military, civil servants, and public school teachers?

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