Pan Shih-wei (; born 27 July 1955) is a Taiwanese

labor relations Labour relations in practice is a subarea within human resource management, and the main components of it include collective bargaining, application and oversight of collective agreement obligations, and dispute resolution. Academically, employe ...

professor and academic. He was the Minister of the Council of Labor Affairs from 28 September 2012 and subsequently the Minister of Labor from 17 February 2014 until his resignation on 24 July 2014.

Early life and education

Pan was born in

Tainan Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a Special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality in southern Taiwan, facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and commonly called the "Taiwan Prefecture, ...

on July 27, 1955. His father was Pan Wan-li (1930–1995). Shih-wei graduated from

Tunghai University Tunghai University (THU; ) is a private university in Xitun District, Taichung, Taiwan, established in 1955. It was founded by the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia (UBCHEA). The university is known for its liberal arts educati ...

in 1978 with a bachelor's degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

and obtained a master's degree in

labor studies Labour relations in practice is a subarea within human resource management, and the main components of it include collective bargaining, application and oversight of collective agreement obligations, and dispute resolution. Academically, employe ...

from

Chinese Culture University The Chinese Culture University (CCU; ) is a private Taiwanese university located in Yangmingshan in Shilin District, Taipei, Taiwan. Established in 1962, CCU is one of the largest universities in Taiwan with an enrollment of about 32,000 student ...

in 1988. He then continued his graduate studies in the United States at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

, where he earned a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

(M.S.) in 1994 and his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1998 from its

New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations The New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University (ILR) is an industrial relations school and one of Cornell University's Statutory college#Cornell University, statutory colleges. The school has five academic depar ...

. His doctoral dissertation was titled, "Employment relations in a changing global economy: The case of Taiwan," and was completed under the supervision of professor Harry C. Katz.

Political career

During the 2008 ROC Presidential Election, Pan wrote the labor policy for

Ma Ying-jeou Ma Ying-jeou ( zh, t=馬英九; pinyin: ''Mǎ Yīngjiǔ''; ; born 13 July 1950) is a Taiwanese politician, lawyer, and legal scholar who served as the sixth president of the Republic of China from 2008 to 2016. A member of the Kuomintang (KMT ...

and

Vincent Siew Siew Wan-chang (; born 3 January 1939), known also by his English name Vincent Siew, is a Taiwanese politician who served as the ninth vice president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2008 to 2012. He was the first Taiwanese-born Prem ...

ticket of the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

Council of Labor Affairs Ministry

Ministry appointment

Pan was appointed to be the Minister of CLA after the incumbent Minister

Wang Ju-hsuan Wang Ju-hsuan (; born 2 October 1961), also known as Jennifer Wang, is a Taiwanese lawyer and politician. She was the Minister of the Council of Labor Affairs from 2008 to 2012. In 2015, Wang was selected as Eric Chu's running mate on the Kuomi ...

resigned amid an uproar over her proposal to raise the minimum wage in Taiwan.

Taiwan new pension reform

In mid April 2013, Pan announced new pension reforms for Taiwan due to the projected Labor Insurance Funds bankruptcy in 2027. He added that the

ROC government The Government of the Republic of China is the national authority whose actual-controlled territory consists of main island of Taiwan (Formosa), Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and other island groups, collectively known as ''Taiwan Area'' or ''Fr ...

had launched a series reform methods to sustain the fund for at least another 30 years. He warned that this change would be painful.

References

Ministers of labor of Taiwan Living people Cornell University alumni Academic staff of the Chinese Culture University Tunghai University alumni Taiwanese educators 1955 births {{Taiwan-KMT-politician-stub