Pan Shih-wei

Pan Shih-wei is a Taiwanese labor relations 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 on July 27, 1955. His father was Pan Wan-li.
After high school, Pan graduated from Tunghai University in 1978 with a bachelor's degree in political science and obtained a master's degree in labor studies from Chinese Culture University in 1988. He then completed doctoral studies at Cornell University, where he earned a Master of Science in 1994 and his Ph.D. in labor relations in 1998 from its New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations. His doctoral dissertation was titled, "Employment relations in a changing global economy: The case of Taiwan". His doctoral advisor was the labor scholar Harry C. Katz.

Political career

During the 2008 ROC Presidential Election, Pan wrote the labor policy for Ma Ying-jeou and Vincent Siew ticket of the Kuomintang.

Council of Labor Affairs Ministry

Ministry appointment

Pan was appointed to be the Minister of CLA after the incumbent Minister Wang Ju-hsuan 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 had launched a series reform methods to sustain the fund for at least another 30 years. He warned that this change would be painful.