Patterns and determinants of multiple welfare programme participation among families with children in Taiwan: Evidence from panel data (2016–2022)

This study investigates multiple welfare programme participation patterns in Taiwan. Taiwan is a productivist welfare society with a social safety net system that is generous in design and has a package of fertility-boosting assistance programmes to address low birth rates. The present study examines panel data using longitudinal latent class analysis (LLCA) and multinomial logistic regression to capture and depict participation patterns across a range of social programmes among households with children under 18 from 2016 to 2022. Our findings underscore the importance of nuanced, dynamic policy approaches to address Taiwan's distinct demographic groups' varying needs. For instance, being younger and educational attainment were negatively correlated with multiple welfare assistance programmes, but positively correlated with children's assistance programmes. Our findings suggest the need for continuous needs assessments to respond to vulnerable families' evolving economic needs. While welfare studies in East Asia seldom take into account the joint participation in welfare programmes, our findings contribute to a deeper understanding of social welfare participation patterns in Taiwan and underscore the critical role of welfare programmes in supporting households with children, offering valuable insights into the potential for a more comprehensive and accessible social security system in Taiwan and elsewhere.