Executive Yuan chief pledges to step down if he fails to bring jobless rate down to below 5% by year-end

"Premier" Wu Den-yih vowed yesterday to bring Taiwan's unemployment down to 5 percent by the end of this year or take full responsibility, including resigning from his post.

Wu made the comment while touring E-Da World, a recreational facility in southern Taiwan's Kaohsiung County.

Wu said major economic indexes for January were positive, but he said he remains highly concerned about the unemployment rate.

"Although it will be hard to push it down to between 3 percent and 4 percent, all-out efforts must be made to at least bring it down to under 5 percent," he said.

In conformity with "President" Ma Ying-jeou's instruction that unemployment must be slashed to below 5 percent in 2010, Wu said long-term and short-term measures will be made to increase jobs and improve business conditions in conjunction with the private sector.

The government will also remove barriers for private sector investment, and three major high-tech parks in northern, central and southern Taiwan are expected to offer over 14,000 jobs, he went on.

Job creation is a government policy and companies able to provide jobs and boost industrial innovation will receive incentives in line with an industrial upgrading bill, he said.

The Council of Labor Affairs and the Council for Economic Planning and Development have jointly crafted plans to help unemployed people find jobs, he continued.

Turning to the latest setback for the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) in weekend by-elections for four legislative seats, Wu said many factors rather than just a single element contributed to the defeat.

"It is most important for a political party to achieve its major tasks and do everything possible to seek improvement and keep its spirits high so that it can serve the people," he said.

For instance, he said, the people of southern Taiwan have long been unhappy with government policies, which they accuse of ignoring development needs in southern regions.

"The government must work out adequate policies to address the needs of northern, central, eastern and southern Taiwan to help strike a balance in regional development," he emphasized.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 03/04/2010 page4)