Shortage of Talent on Taiwan Serious

Shortage of Talent on Taiwan Serious
China Times editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
August 9, 2012

Summary: The National Science Council recently held a Science and Technology Development Advisory Conference. It invited officials and experts to discuss industry-university cooperation, national planning projects, and the talent shortage. Chu Ching-yi, Chairman of the National Science Council told reporters Taiwan now has a serious shortage of talent. If nothing is done, Taiwan's former advantage will be lost. International competition will result in our tragic demise. His comments were shocking. Industry, government, and academia each issued warnings. Everyone sees the problem. But no one sees any solutions.

Full Text below:

The National Science Council recently held a Science and Technology Development Advisory Conference. It invited officials and experts to discuss industry-university cooperation, national planning projects, and the talent shortage. Chu Ching-yi, Chairman of the National Science Council told reporters Taiwan now has a serious shortage of talent. If nothing is done, Taiwan's former advantage will be lost. International competition will result in our tragic demise. His comments were shocking. Industry, government, and academia each issued warnings. Everyone sees the problem. But no one sees any solutions.

The shortage of talent on Taiwan did not begin today. Two or three years ago Chu Ching-yi was chairman of the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research. As an ordinary scholar he repeatedly issued warnings, including a number of concrete facts. For example, A Ph.D returning from the U.S. to work as an assistant researcher at the Academia Sinica, would be paid a monthly salary of 190,000 NT. The same individual working at Tsinghua University in Beijing, would receive an annual salary, moving expenses, and three years of housing subsidies. His or her average monthly salary would be 436,000 NT, two to three times the Academia Sinica salary. As one can imagine, given such differences in treatment, Beijing is clearly preferable to Taipei.

Three years later, the situation has not improved. Salaries for high-level talen on Taiwan lag far behind Hong Kong and Singapore, by as much as five times. Back then Chu Ching-yi estimated that if nothing was done, the talent shortage would reach crisis proportions within ten years. Even Chu did not realize the crisis would materialize so soon. Less than three years later, the situation has already deteriorated. High-level salaries are constrained by rigid laws. Mid and low-level salaries are constrained by economic hardship. When the pie cannot be made any larger, each piece of the pie will remain small. We lack the economic wherewithal to attract talent. In turn, the lack of talent in a knowledge-based economy will make economic growth impossible. In short, Taiwan may fall victim to more than a lack of talent. The lack of talent could lead to a vicious cycle of economic decline.

This is true for native talent. But how is it for foreign scientific and technological talent? Chu Ching-yi cites his own experience with foreign professors. Before the professor can receive a letter of appointment, he must undergo the same "foreign labor screening" as ordinary foreign workers. Screening for foreign professionals includes bewildering and humiliating screening for syphilis. They may be granted permanent residence, but their families and loved ones will not. Family members can be reunited only by obtaining a 30 day tourist visa. When it expires, family members must leave the country. Even driver's licenses are valid only for the duration of their residence. If their work permit has expired, income earned on Taiwan cannot be withdrawn overseas. Even dividends from unlisted shares require mountains of red tape. Personal information concerning the companies and the individuals must be submitted to the Ministry of Economic Affairs Investment Commission. Myriad restrictions make foreign professionals feel demeaned and subjected to unreasonable and unfair treatment. Why would they want to come to Taiwan?

Native talent has become harder to keep. Foreign talent has become even harder to attract. In recent years many people on Taiwan have evinced an intensely isolationist mentality. Mainland and foreign students have encountered the same obstacles, both in education and in employment. To ensure educational and employment opportunities for Taiwan students, students from the Mainland are not even allowed to marry someone from Taiwan. Allowing in foreign workers involves a variety of political considerations. On the surface such restrictions protect Taiwan. In fact they restrict the entry of high-level talent into Taiwan. They undermine national competitiveness. As a result, more talent leaves. In the global talent market, Taiwan has already lost its attraction. If talent cannot gather, how can industry upgrade? By contrast Singapore is encouraging professionals to move there in droves. The US is the world's most powerful nation. It has never changed its open invitation to professional talent. It spares no expense to train students. Is Taiwan really in any position to talk about global competitiveness?

People on Taiwan underwent years of hardship. They survived the "Come, come, come to National Taiwan University; Go, go, go to the United States" era. Eventually those who went to the United States returned home to create Taiwan's economic miracle. But once Taiwan took off, students had less incentive to study abroad. They stayed home and stood guard over a pool of stagnant water. As iD SoftCapital Group Chairman Stan Shih observed, "The new generation is talented. But we can no longer offer them a stage on which to perform." When asked how this came about, he said "under the influence of politic demagoguery, our society shrank the stage. We only looked inward. Industries lost their competitiveness. Young people no longer have a stage on which to perform."

Industry and academia see the problem. They have proposed solutions. The key is to free up the policies and the laws. The way must be cleared, all the way from the legislature to the executive. For example, the Legislative Yuan oversees public shares and public foundations. It fights fat cats. This enabled the Executive Yuan to invoke the "anti-fat cat articles" to attack research institutes willy nilly. Eventually they realized their error and proposed a "flexible salary program." They managed to retain research institute talent, barely. But the damage was already done.

Politics and economics on Taiwan is brims over with lip service to "the common man." Populist sentiment can easily lead to coercive egalitarianism. This is hardly conducive to the cultivation of cutting-edge talent. The political realm has reduced the stage for the economic realm and the social realm. As a result, far-sighted policies are no longer an option. Even assuming they could be implemented immediately, the government should give them careful consideration.

台灣人才斷層危機 不容低估
    2012-08-09 01:02
    中國時報 

　國科會舉行「科學技術發展諮議會」，邀集產官學界人士討論產學合作、國家型計畫及人才問題，國科會主委朱敬一會前受訪直指，台灣進入「人才斷層期」，如果再無作為，早年累積的優勢也會流失，與他國競爭的結果會是「死狀甚慘」，一語驚雷，讓產官學各界紛紛提出警語，然而，危機大家都看到了，解決辦法卻似乎還沒個譜。

　台灣人才危機非始於今日，早在二、三年前，朱敬一猶是中華經濟研究院董事長，以一介學者的身分，已多次撰文警示，當年他提出的幾項具體事實，隨便舉例，一位留美博士要返台出任中研院助研究員，依現行俸給規定月薪約台幣十九萬；相同的人才若赴北京清華大學，年薪加上安家費、三年助房補貼等等平均月薪四十三萬六千，是中研院薪給的二點三倍，可想而知，如果以待遇做選擇，北京會是台北之前的優選。

　三年過去，情況並未改善，而台灣高階人才的薪資待遇，甚至已經遠遠落後於香港、新加坡達五倍之多。當時，朱敬一預估，如果不加防範則人才斷層危機會在十年內呈現，他大概沒想到，危機來得既猛又快，三年不到已然惡化。高階人才薪給受困於僵化法令制度，中低階人員待遇則受限於實際的經濟發展，當餅做不大的時候，可分食的資源必然有限，經濟實力不夠缺乏足以吸引人才的誘因，人才不足則在知識經濟的時代更不可能翻轉提升經濟實力，質言之，台灣可能不只陷入人才斷層危機，而是已經陷入人才斷層與經濟頹軟的惡化循環。

　本國人才如此，外籍科研人才又如何？朱敬一以自己身邊外籍教授的經驗為例，即使是教授拿到聘書前，還是要和一般外勞相同先行「外勞篩檢」，檢驗項目包括讓外籍專業人士不解也感到羞辱的「梅毒」；他們即使因為工作而取得永久居留證，但其家屬親人卻始終無法取得居留證，家人想團聚只能以觀光簽證卅天居留，期滿就得出境，連駕照換照都只給到其居留期限；他們在台灣工作所得，因為在銀行的居留證資料過期而不能在國外提款；連購買未上市股票配發股票股利，還得搜集包括公司與個人的一大疊資料赴經濟部投審會「申請」；林林總總的限制，只讓外籍專業人士自覺低人一等，且受到不合理、不公平的待遇。誰還想到台灣？

　本國人才難留、外籍人才不來，更嚴重的，台灣近幾年有強烈的鎖國心態，不論是陸生或者外籍學生，從教育到就業都要碰到相同的爭議話題：保障台生就讀與就業權益，陸生甚至不能在台結婚，即使開放外勞都有各種牽牽絆絆的政治考量，表面上彷彿保障了台灣人，實情卻是限制了高階優秀人才移入台灣，國家整體競爭力因此衰退，更多人才因此出走，在全球化的人才市場上，台灣已經失去了磁吸作用，人才無法群聚，產業如何升級？相對於新加坡大量鼓勵專業人士移入，世界最大強國美國從未改變向全球張開雙臂歡迎專業人士，不惜重金培養留學生，台灣還有什麼條件談全球競爭力？

　台灣走過困頓的歲月，有過「來來來，來台大；去去去，去美國」的日子，然而，那些赴美人才陸續回鄉，開創台灣的經濟奇蹟，騰昇之後的台灣，學生出國留學意願漸低，留著守住一攤難以攪動的死水。智融集團董事長施振榮說得好，「新生代都是人才，但是我們沒有提供下一代可以發揮的舞台。」何以致此？「因為整個社會在政治運作下，把舞台做小了，都是往內看，產業沒有競爭力，年輕人也失去發揮的舞台。」

　產學界看到問題，提出可能的解決方案，重點還是卡在政策法令制度的鬆綁，得一路通關從行政部門打到立法機關。隨便舉例，因為立法院監督公股事業與財團法人，重打肥貓，讓行政院祭出「打肥貓條款」，打到工研院幾乎崩盤，才亟思挽救推出「彈薪方案」，勉強有利於研究機關延攬人才，但已打成重傷。

　而在舉國從政治、經濟甚至語言俱談「庶民」之際，民粹情緒很容易塑造齊頭式的平等，卻絕對無益於形塑尖端人才，政治壓縮了經濟與社會的舞台空間，致使有遠見的政策方案無法有效推出、即時落實執行，都值得執政者深思。