Two sets of figures published this week concerning Taiwan’s employment indeed show some of the country’s problems. The lesson, though, is less about the labor market itself and more about its educational, social and economic development.The government’s monthly report on employment showed that the December jobless rate dropped to 4.18 percent, improving by 0.09 percentage points compared to November. Despite the improvement, unemployment among the young and educated is on the rise.Meanwhile, a p

Defying public outcry, President Lee Myung-bak is expected to announce a special pardon soon, possibly Tuesday. The Ministry of Justice has already submitted a presidential clemency proposal to Lee.The planned pardon has triggered public outcry as it reportedly includes some of Lee’s friends and aides who have been convicted of corruption. For this reason, President-elect Park Geun-hye’s transition team has voiced opposition to the amnesty plan. Yoon Chang-jung, spokesman of the team, said on Sa

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears to have decided to conduct another nuclear test. The North’s state media reported on Sunday that Kim had expressed his firm intention to take “substantial and high-profile state measures” in response to the Jan. 23 U.N. Security Council sanctions.The dispatch from the North’s Korean Central News Agency did not elaborate on the “measures,” but they were believed to be referring to an atomic bomb test in light of Pyongyang’s escalating threats to detonate a

Debate continues on President-elect Park Geun-hye’s plan to reform the current basic old-age pension. During her election campaign, Park put forward three interrelated proposals concerning the senior pension. First of all, she promised to double the monthly pension benefit from the present 97,100 won to 200,000 won.Then she proposed to make the increased benefit available to all senior citizens aged 65 or older, regardless of their income. Currently, the benefit is paid to people in the bottom 7

President-elect Park Geun-hye has surprised many by nominating Kim Yong-joon, chief of her transition team, to be the first prime minister of her government. But the nomination has clearly shown what values she cherishes most.One such value is the rule of law. She has repeatedly pledged to handle state affairs in compliance with the law. By nominating Kim, Park probably wanted to show that her pledges were not hollow rhetoric. Explaining why she picked Kim, 74, who served as a Constitutional Cou

Distracted by the deadly violence in Mali and Algeria, no one seems to be paying adequate attention to the tragicomedy under way in Pakistan.This matters because events of the last week demonstrate without equivocation that Pakistan is an utterly failed state ― but one that possesses nuclear weapons. The country is tumbling down the abyss. Where else could a fundamentalist Muslim cleric who lives in Canada draw tens of thousands of fans to a rally calling for dissolution of the government ― spea

PARIS ― The realities highlighted by the Oscar-nominated film “Zero Dark Thirty,” which detailed the operation that ended with the killing of Osama bin Laden, don’t begin and end with the debate over what some call “torture” as a means of obtaining intelligence. That’s just the only issue from the film that politicians and the media have glommed onto. More than anything else, “Zero Dark Thirty” is one of the rare films that accurately portrays the realities and frustrations of working in espiona

An alarming new report estimates that between 30 and 50 percent of all the food produced in the world is lost and wasted. This is a shocking finding given the scale of malnourishment and hunger on our planet.While it is tempting to blame governments for this appalling state of affairs, the truth is that almost all of us contribute to this problem. While governments must do the lion’s share of the work, individual citizens can also help to reduce loss, waste and hunger.The new report is by the In

The oil industry, still reeling from the abrupt disbanding of the upstream oil regulatory body BPMigas last November, has been hit by another piece of bad news that threatens not only Indonesia’s energy security but also its balance of payments and fiscal consolidation, with an adverse impact on inflation and the rupiah exchange rate.The upstream oil regulatory task force that replaced BPMigas revealed last week that several big oil production-sharing contractors (PSCs), including giants such as