The Council of Labor Affairs pointed out this week that the basic wages are likely to increase this year with the economy recovering. And a new program aimed at promoting youth employment will also be rolled out soon, in the hope of further reducing Taiwan's overall jobless rate.

Long known for her Iron Maiden-like reputation, Council of Labor Affairs Committee chairperson, Wang Ju-hsuan, commented at a recent press conference that she expects this year's basic wages to increase with the recovering economy.

Besides adjusting basic wages, the Council of Labor Affairs will be promoting a youth employment agenda to meet Premier of Executive Yuan Wu Den-yih's yearly unemployment target rate of 4.9%.

The focus of the CLA this year is not only on an overhaul of infrastructure, but also on relevant issues for the establishment of the Ministry of Labor Affairs next year, such as the rights and insurance of non-conventional workers, part-time workers, employees, as well as the labor standards act dispatch seals.

Because labor groups have different outlooks on the insurance of dispatched workers, the CLA will try to work out a common ground and hopefully compose a draft in time to send to the Legislative Yuan for evaluation.