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- What is the average annual income in Taiwan?
The per capita national income in Taiwan for 2001 was US$12,941.
- How large is Taiwan's labor force and what is the national unemployment
rate?
At the end of 2001, Taiwan's labor force totaled 9.8 million. Approximately 6.7 million are employees and the rest are either self-employed or have some other working status. The average national unemployment rate was 4.57 percent in 2001.
- How many foreign laborers are working in Taiwan, and what rights and protection
do they have?
By the end of 2001, 304,600 foreign workers were employed in Taiwan. Approximately 54 percent of these workers were employed in the manufacturing sector, and 11 percent were working in construction. Approximately 141,300 were from Thailand. About 104,000 foreign workers, mostly from Indonesia and the Philippines, were employed as nurses and care-providers. Another 8,700, mostly from the Philippines, were employed as domestic helpers in families with dependents under six or over 75 years of age.
To protect the rights of legal foreign workers and help them adjust to life in Taiwan, 20 foreign workers' counseling and service centers have been established islandwide. These centers offer foreign workers information on pertinent laws and regulations, provide psychological counseling, and mediate disputes. Hotlines have also been set up to offer guidance and other services.
Almost all enterprises provide programs and services for foreign employees, such as insurance coverage under the government's labor insurance program and through private group insurance. Other programs and forms of assistance include recreational activities on weekends, cultural and recreation centers, counseling sessions, weekend religious activities, and Mandarin language training.
Foreign workers are allowed to apply for a change of employer in the event that a company shuts down, suspends production, reduces its number of employees, or automates production. Foreign employees may also be transferred to other businesses or factories owned by the same employer, or may work for the new owners of a business in the event of a takeover.
- What are Taiwan's economic growth rate and GNP?
In 2001, Taiwan's economy declined by 1.91 percent. The gross national product for Taiwan that year was US$288.3 billion,
GNP per capita was US$12,941, and gross domestic product was US$282.4 billion. Foreign exchange reserves as of May 2002 totaled US$139.8 billion.
- What is the current status of Taiwan's foreign trade?
Foreign trade constitutes about 80 percent of Taiwan's GNP and has allowed Taiwan to accumulate one of the world's largest foreign exchange reserves. In 2001, Taiwan's foreign trade totaled US$230.1 billion. Although exports for the year were down 17.2 percent to US$122.9 billion due to the global economic downturn, Taiwan still ranked 14th among the world's leading exporters.
The total value of Taiwan's exports in 2001 was US$122.9 billion. The United States, Hong Kong, and Japan are the top buyers of Taiwan's exports, accounting for 54.8 percent of the total in 2001.
The aggregate value of Taiwan's imports was US$107.2 billion in 2001, down 23.4 percent from the preceding year. The leading sources of imports are Japan, accounting for 24.1 percent of the total; the United States, 17.0 percent; the ASEAN countries, 14.9 percent; and Europe, 14.0 percent.
- What is the plan to develop Taiwan into a "Green Silicon
Island"?
In his May 20, 2000, inaugural speech, President Chen Shui-bian proposed developing Taiwan into a "Green Silicon Island" with an emphasis on high technology and clean industry. Taiwan's economic miracle was built on a foundation of labor-intensive industries and low-tech products, such as textiles, garments, footwear, and consumer electronics. As recently as 1987, 48 percent of Taiwan's total exports were low-tech products, while only 18 percent of export products were considered high-tech. This proportion has been gradually reversed over the past decade. By 2000, about 54 percent of export products were high-tech and only 14 percent were considered low-tech. Taiwan is now the world's fourth largest IT hardware producer.
In May 2002, the government formulated the "Challenge 2008" comprehensive six-year national development plan as its latest effort to foster the creativity and talent Taiwan needs to transform itself into a "Green Silicon Island." The plan will cost an estimated NT$2.6 trillion (approximately US$75 billion) and increase the average economic growth rate of the next six years to over 5 percent.
- How important is foreign investment to Taiwan's economy?
In 2000, the government approved 1,410 cases of direct foreign investment in Taiwan worth a total of US$7.6 billion. Compared to the previous year, the total number of approved foreign investments increased by 79.79 percent, a record high. Most of Taiwan's foreign investments in 2000 came from British territories in Central America (mainly the British Virgin Islands and British Cayman Islands), the United States, Singapore, Japan, and the United Kingdom. The total amount from these areas equaled 83.36 percent of inward foreign investment in 2000.
- Where have Taiwan businesses made major investments?
Overseas investment (not including China) by Taiwanese businesses totaled US$5.08 billion in 2000, representing a growth of 55.31 percent over 1999. Most of this outward investment focused on the British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands, the United States, other American regions, Japan, and Singapore.
There were 840 approved indirect investments in China in 2000, totaling US$2.61 billion, an increase of 108.11 percent over the previous year in terms of value and 72.13 percent in the number of cases. A large number of Taiwan manufacturers in labor-intensive industries have set up factories in China to take advantage of the low costs of labor, land, and overhead. As the market on the mainland becomes more open and attractive, more of Taiwan's large enterprises, including firms in the information technology, plastics, and food and beverage industries, are building large-scale projects on the mainland. In addition to manufacturing, a growing number of Taiwan businessmen are also establishing mainland offices to handle real estate, insurance, banking, and tourism.
- What is the current status of Taiwan's manufacturing industries?
In 2001, industrial production accounted for 30.9 percent of Taiwan's GDP. Goods that once dominated Taiwan's exports, such as the food processing, footwear, textile, and garment industries, as well as agricultural products like wood, bamboo, and leather, have all declined over the years. These labor-intensive industries have gradually been replaced by capital- and technology-intensive industries, such as chemicals, petrochemicals, information technology, electrical equipment, and electronics.
Manufacturing has dominated Taiwan's industrial sector since the mid-1960s. In 2001, manufacturing output constituted nearly 82 percent of total industrial production and employed one-fourth of the nation's work force. That same year, manufacturing accounted for 25.3 percent of the GDP. The information technology and electronics sectors continued to outperform all other manufacturing sectors.
- What is the status of Taiwan's information technology industry?
In 2000, Taiwan's hardware information technology industry (domestic and overseas combined) had a total production value of US$47 billion, up 17.9 percent from the previous year's US$39.9 billion, making it the most important foreign exchange earner of the country. The structure of Taiwan's information technology industry is best described as a pyramid. A handful of companies at the top of the pyramid commit themselves to product innovation through extensive R&D, while small and medium-sized enterprises at the base of the pyramid form the vast majority (85 percent) of the actual output.
Taiwan was the world's third largest computer hardware supplier from 1995 to 1999, and ranked fourth in 2000, trailing only the United States, Japan, and China. In 2000, laptop computers, monitors, desktop PCs, and motherboards accounted for about 80 percent of the production value of the information technology industry. Taiwan has already supplanted Singapore to become Japan's second largest supplier of information products, second only to the United States.
- To what extent has the service sector grown over the last decade?
In 1988, Taiwan's service sector employed more people than the industrial sector for the first time. By the end of 2000, the service sector employed 54.98 percent of Taiwan's work force. The service sector's share of the GDP has also grown substantially in recent years, reaching 65.53 percent in 2000. The major service industries that have expanded in recent years include finance, insurance, and real estate, which together made up over 30 percent of the GDP in 2000. Commercial services have also grown significantly, accounting for another 29.45 percent. The wholesale, retail, international trade, and food and beverage industries performed better than the year before, with growth rates of 6.14, 4.14, 12.37, and 8.27 percent, respectively.
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