The impacts of the MEPP on program participants and NPOs in Taiwan

The Multiple Employment Promotion Program (MEPP) is an employment promotion measure taken by the Taiwanese Government to deal with the rising unemployment problem since 1996. The goal of this program is to subsidize nonprofit organizations (NPOs) for hiring unemployed workers to assist in the deprived neighborhoods. This paper aims to describe this program and show its impacts on workers in terms of their reemployment conditions and its influences on participating NPOs by analyzing empirical data and reviewing relevant documents. The sample includes 2,778 people who took part in the MEPP from 16 April 2004 to 1 July 2007. Descriptive analysis, ttest and ANOVA were used to identify the MEPP's impacts on participants. As for the effects of the MEPP on NPOs, this paper reviewed and summarized relevant reports consulting the employers’ opinions. By comparing participants’ labor participation outcomes before and after joining the MEPP, it was found that the reemployment rate of the participants reached 60 per cent. With regard to its impacts on NPOs, most participating organizations deemed that the program was effective in terms of manpower supply, organizational development and building a partnership with the government. Moreover, about 79 per cent of the NPOs would like to continue to employ the participants after the termination of the plans. This is the first study in Taiwan that uses objective data from the labour insurance records to trace the MEPP participants after they leave the plan.