Stop the Brain Drain: Resuscitate the Economy

Stop the Brain Drain: Resuscitate the Economy
United Daily News editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
March 11, 2013

Summary: To renew emphasis on youth unemployment, and more aggressively confront the problems, this newspaper's "Vision Workshop" will publish a series of reports in the coming year, entitled, "Finding a Way for Youth." What is our human resources strategy? What kind of talent will be needed In the world of the future?

Full Text below:

On June 18 of last year, this newspaper's "Vision Workshop" began running a series of special reports entitled, "Two Critical Years for Taiwan's Revival." We compared different countries' past and present circumstances. We expressed hope that President Ma Ying-jeou, who had just been re-elected to a second term, would use these two years to resusciate Taiwan's economy. We stressed, in particular, the need to address the Brain Drain. We noted that the younger generation, and whether youth unemployment could be solved, was the key to Taiwan's continued prosperity.

The Brain Drain gradually seized the attention of the ruling and opposition parties, as well as the public. Controversy raged. Over the past nine months, government officials have analyzed the relevant issues. As the new chief of the CEPD pointed out, Taiwan's Brain Drain involves four major issues. They include: a shortage of talent, an educational system afflicted with rigor mortis, the cultivation of talent the market does not demand, and Taiwan's inability to offer talent what other economies can.

Government agencies realize the seriousness of the problem. Two years ago, Chu Ching-yi said the Brain Drain did not happen yesterday. It is nothing new. But he also admitted that before he studied the subject, he had no idea how serious the shortage was.

Two years ago, Academia Sinica President Wong Chi-huey and others published a "Declaration on Human Talent," and asked the government to develop countermeasures. The Office of the President said the brain drain was sufficiently serious to constitute a threat to national security. President Ma attaches great importance to the matter. As far back as late 2010, he instructed the relevant agencies to suggest solutions. The Executive Yuan approved a "Talent Cultivation Program." It said it intended to invest 600 billion NT to cultivate talent.

Today, two years later, we see no significant improvement in the supply of talent. If anything, the problem is even more serious. The problem has three main causes. One. People with talent cannot find jobs. Two. People with talent refuse to stay on. Three. People with talent are not allowed to enter. The problems are most serious among the younger generation.

Unemployment among the young is a universal problem. According to the 2013 World Development Report, published by the World Bank in October of last year, 200 million people the world over are unemployed. About 75 million people are young people 25 or below. About 620 million young people are neither working nor studying. By comparison, the youth unemployment rate on Taiwan was 12.6% in December of last year. It was the highest among the major Asian economies. It was three times the overall unemployment rate of 4.18%. This means that young people on Taiwan are more susceptible than society as a whole.

High youth unemployment on Taiwan is an effect. The cause has several aspects. One is the government's past industrial development planning and human resources strategy. Industry failed to upgrade. This led to changes in demographics and imbalances in employment demand. Serious imbalances developed between industry and academia. Another aspect was "Educational Reform." In earlier times, the cultivation of technical and professional talent provided Taiwan with many mid level technicians. But "Educational Reform" led vocational schools to restructure themselve as "Science and Technology Institutes," and to compete with ordinary universities. This led to a shortage of vocational school trained talent.

Yet another key was industry negativity. Industry passed the buck for the cultivation of talent onto the government and the schools. Big Business complained loudly about the "lack of talent." It insisted that "Young people are not good workers." It criticized the government and the schools. It assumed that the government and the schools were obligated to cultivate talent for its use. But it did nothing itself toward that end. It was as if Big Business did not have to assume any responsibility.

Admittedly, the problem has an even more important aspect. That is young peoples' willingness to cultivate their own talent. When the government offers bad policies, when Big Business has bad attitudes, when the educational system fails them, when economic growth slows, young people must not remain hothouse flowers. They must exercise intiative. They must flex their muscles. This is undoubtedly the best solution to their problems.

The new cabinet is currently taking office. The youngest premier in ROC history is assuming power. To renew emphasis on youth unemployment, and more aggressively confront the problems, this newspaper's "Vision Workshop" will publish a series of reports in the coming year, entitled, "Finding a Way for Youth." We hope to work with the government and the public to confront the problem of youth unemployment. We hope government and industry will not dwell exclusively on solving current problems, but look to the future, to the next ten or twenty years. What is our human resources strategy? What kind of talent will be needed In the world of the future? We hope they will consider the changes in population structure and industrial structure, and offer a roadmap for future talent. Only this will address the plight faced by today's talent.

搶救人才 台灣躍起
【聯合報╱社論】
2013.03.11 01:38 am

去年六月十八日本報系「願景工作室」特別企劃《關鍵兩年──台灣快轉》系列報導，經由跨國比較，勾勒過去、檢視現在，期許剛剛展開第二任期的馬英九總統，能運用這開始的關鍵兩年，讓台灣恢復成長動力，進而使經濟脫胎換骨。當時我們即明確指出，人才問題是迫切需要解決的課題，青年世代的困境能否紓解，尤是台灣能否永續發展的關鍵所在。

隨後人才議題逐漸受到朝野及社會各界重視，討論和建議聲音不斷。在這近九個月的時間中，我們也屢見政府官員分析相關問題，包括新任經建會主委管中閔曾指出，台灣在人才問題上有四大危機，包括人才供需落差、教育體制偏差僵化、人才培育不符需求，及國際人才競逐失利。

政府部門其實並不是不知道人才問題的嚴重性。兩年前政務委員朱敬一在接受訪問時就談到，人才外流不是現在才發生的問題，已經不是新聞了。但他也坦承在研究此議題之前，不知道台灣的人才地圖如此失衡。

也就在兩年前，中央研究院院長翁啟惠等人發表「人才宣言」，呼籲政府研擬對策。總統府也表示人才問題已到了國安層次，馬總統非常重視這個問題，早在二○一○年底就指示相關單位提出解決方案。行政院則強調，已核定「人才培育方案」，預計投入六百億元的經費，培養國家社會所需人才。

如今兩年過去了，台灣的人才問題卻不見有明顯改善，反而更形嚴重。況且，台灣的人才問題有許多面向，歸納起來大致可以分為用不上、留不住及進不來三大部分。其中又以青年世代問題的嚴重性最為凸顯。

環顧全球，青年世代的就業、失業，是個普遍性的問題。根據去年十月世界銀行公布《二○一三年世界發展報告》，全球約有兩億人處於失業狀態，其中七千五百萬人是二十五歲以下的青年。更有報告指出，全球約有六點二億青年人既不工作也沒有求學。比較來看，去年十二月台灣青年失業率為十二‧六％，竟是亞洲主要國家中最高者，而對照整體失業率四‧一八％，則達到了三倍。這也意味著，在台灣的青年，相對於整體社會更為弱勢。

如果說台灣青年失業率居高不下是果，其原因來自幾個關鍵。一是過去國家對於產業發展和人才戰略沒有規劃和願景，產業遲遲無法提升，導致人口結構的變化和就業需求類別，無法搭配，產學之間嚴重失衡。其次是教改的苦果，早期技職體系的發展，為台灣培養諸多中間階層的技術人員；然而，之後的教改，卻讓技職體系紛紛改制為科技大學，轉而跟普通大學競爭，也讓技職體系的人才出現斷層。

另一個關鍵，就是產業界的態度消極，多半將培養人才的責任推給政府和學校。特別是一些具有指標意義的大企業，通常會喊著「沒人才」、「年輕人不好用」，並對政府或學校提出非常多的批評和意見，以為人才就應該是政府和學校都幫他們培養好，他們只要拿來用就好，但反而沒有具體指出企業該做什麼，好像企業不用負起相當的責任。

誠然，還有一個更重要的關鍵，就是年輕人自我能力的培養。當政府政策面的改善、企業主的心態、教育制度的更新及經濟力提升都緩不濟急時，年輕人如何不被視為草莓族，而主動厚植自己的實力，無疑是解決自身問題的最佳利器。

值此新內閣就任、也是史上最年輕的行政院長上台之際，為了喚起各方再次重視青年問題，並能以更積極的態度和作為面對，本報系「願景工作室」正在連載策劃一年的「為青年尋路」系列報導，希望和台灣朝野各界一起攜手努力，正視並紓解青年世代問題。更期盼，我們的政府和產業界，不要只著眼於解決現在的問題，也要同時往前看，未來十年、二十年，我們的人才戰略是什麼，在未來世界中台灣需要什麼樣的人才，並同時考量人口結構和產業結構的變化，提出未來的人才地圖，讓現今台灣人才問題的種種困境有以救治。