TAIPEI: In 2010, with the world expecting to recover from the economic downturn, measures will be taken to help the less-privileged find work, the head of the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) said yesterday.

Wang Ju-hsuan announced at a CLA press conference that helping the less-privileged return to work will be the council's key task this year.

Various programs have been initiated to achieve the aim, including providing salary subsidies to encourage employers to hire people such as middle-aged jobless, physically and mentally challenged people who have been unemployed for at least a year, domestic violence victims and aboriginal people, Wang said.

According to the CLA, employers of an individual from any of the less-privileged groups will be entitled to government wage compensation of NT$17,280 ($542.72) per month for the first three months of employment.

After that, there will still be monthly compensation of NT$10,000 for nine months, the CLA said. The subsidized employers, however, must promise in advance that they will continue to hire less-privileged workers once the government compensation ends, it added.

In addition, public services departments will provide 15,000 vacancies for short-term jobs in the coming year. Meanwhile, efforts to provide jobs for the victims of Typhoon Morakot, which battered southern Taiwan with flooding and landslides last August, will continue, according to the CLA.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 01/05/2010 page2)