Taiwan’s industries stated their position on holidays and working hours in a white paper released on Tuesday.
The director of the Chinese National Federation of Industries, Hsu Shen-hsiung, said people in Taiwan work 2,086 hours a year. That’s less than the 2,142 hours in South Korea and 2,392 hours of Hong Kong and Singapore. Taiwan’s working hours are the shortest of the four Asian tigers.
When asked about the possibility of decreasing working hours, Hsu said that he has never objected to this. He said working fewer hours is great but is not pragmatic in Taiwan’s present economy. He said the federation only has two expectations.
Hsu said, "First, we should give up the seven holidays that were reinstated. The other issue is to follow through with [rules for] overtime hours. In this way, working hours can be reduced and people can have two days off a week. As long as this is done, I think that the system can operate normally."
Hsu also said automation in factories will decrease the need for personnel. In the next ten years, people may only work four days a week, he said.