Laborers in Taiwan to protest lack of jobs for youth

Several major labor unions and groups in Taiwan will launch a protest on May 1, International Workers' Day, in Taipei against the poor employment rate of young people under the Democratic Progressive Party's administration over the past seven years.

At a news conference on Wednesday at Ketagalan Boulevard, where the Taiwan leader's office is located, representatives denounced the DPP authorities for the low salaries paid to young workers in Taiwan in recent years and called for higher wages for them.

Wang Cheng, a young representative from the Labor Party of Taiwan, said over the past seven years, the youth unemployment rate has hovered between 11 and 13 percent, more than three times the island's overall unemployment rate.

About 50 percent of the long-term unemployed are young people, and a quarter of them are graduates who have been unable to find a job for a year, he said.

"Low wages make young people in Taiwan afraid to get married and have children," he added.

Wang also accused Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen of building less than 25,000 of the 200,000 social housing units she promised during her election campaign in 2016.

He called for more young workers in Taiwan to join the protest.