Youth Poverty Issue

In Taiwan, the young people born after 1980s are often referred to as the "strawberry generation". It means that they are like strawberries, which look delicious and beautiful but easily collapse. Also, the media often describe Taiwanese youth as being irresponsible at work and only looking for a good time. 

Byline: Tseng Want-Yu

Translator: Lu Chi-Feng

Without doubt, compared to the previous generation, we enjoy much more benefit due to the Taiwan economic boom. The entire social system and educational resources inculcate in this generation new values and ideas. However, the transformation of the industry has also brought fundamental changes in Taiwan’s industrial and business corporations. Taiwanese economy has changed from being labor intensive to being service oriented. Nowadays, almost 80 percent of employment opportunities are service oriented. Thus, when the youth wants to enter the job market, most of them are in the comparatively low paying service industry. Moreover, because of the education reform policy in Taiwan, a university degree has almost become a basic requirement for job hunting. But the cost of a university education is not affordable for everyone.

Therefore, the twenty-year old something youth who join the job market face a low pay but a highly expensive society. Also, they need to pay their student loans and loan interests. These pressures are pushing the youth too hard to stay out of the water. “Working poverty” situation has become their unbearable burden. Youth should be the most promising group in a society because they are the next in line to hold our economy and determine our future when the current generation fades.

Over the past decades, Taiwanese youth can’t see their future; even worse, they’ve become deprived by the new service-oriented economy. Sadly, their protest in the street their anger, and their pain go unheeded by the government and businesses. Taiwan’s youth, like others in the world, suffer from failed policies, dysfunctional government, social order breakdown, and exploitative business practices. These problems are like virus spreading all over the world. If we don’t stop them, they will become global conglomerate monsters that destroy the whole world economy.

Thus, at the WCC Madang we hope to present to the ecumenical world the situation of “working poverty” our youth is facing. Not only youth, but everyone should be aware of this urgent social issue. Economic injustice doesn’t happen in just a few countries. This problem is experienced by the youth in our church so the PCT can’t ignore this problem either. We should pay more attention to this issue, and try hard not to let this situation pass on to the next generation.


For more information please contact: PCT Youth Media pcty4wcc@gmail.com