Taiwan considers more support for working parents

Taiwan should award subsidies to people who need to miss work due to caregiving duties, under circumstances when their children have to learn from home due to COVID-19 regulations, a women’s rights group urged the government.

The Awakening Foundation called for more government subsidies for individual workers after the Executive Yuan announced a NT$33.27 billion (US$1.14 billion) fund last week to help industries and workers affected by the pandemic, targeting those who lost jobs or had their work hours cut.

However, the support package fails to address the anxiety that workers and their families faced by losing a substantial amount of income, the foundation highlighted, according to Taipei Times. 

“Since locally transmitted cases surged, students at all levels of school across Taiwan have been alternating between online and physical classes,” noted the foundation, adding that “workers who are parents are often forced to take leave to be with their children when they have online classes”.

READ: Employees in Taiwan saw wages rise in 2021

It said that employees should be provided with about NT$1,138 (US$39) per day for pandemic care leave, with such leave being extended to workers who need to take care of their family members.