Working poor in Taiwan: profile and policy response

ABSTRACT This study, adopting a secondary analysis from the Low-income and Middle-income Family Living Condition Survey 2018, aims to investigate the magnitude, the basic characteristics, the working conditions of the working poor in Taiwan as well as to assess the government’s policy responses. This study found that the working poor are a group of people who are mainly 26 to 45 years old, high school graduates, technical or service workers. Approximately 70% of the working poor work full-time but still have a family income below the poverty line, indicating that the typical situation of the working poor is ”long working hours and low wages”. In recent years, Taiwan has developed policies to respond to it, including expanding the scope of social assistance and doubling the beneficiaries, raising the minimum wage, protecting the employment rights of atypical workers, providing child allowances, promoting the employment of the disadvantaged, and expanding childcare and long term care services. These policies all have resulted in significant progress. However, the main issue remaining to be addressed is the strict criteria employed in the poverty screening process. These criteria urgently need to be modified to allow more working poor to enter into the social assistance system and obtain assistance. Additionally, reforms in the distribution of social assistance resources and in an aspect of the tax system are suggested.