Hey Taiwan, It’s your Gold Carder. Let’s talk buckets!

By Jonathan Gropper

Buckets. Nothing is simpler than a bucket. Fill it up and it holds water. Now what happens if you have a bucket with holes at the bottom and you want to keep the water in the bucket. Do you plug the holes as a rational person would or would you pour more water and blame the water that left for leaving? Sounds nutty but it is what is happening when it comes to Taiwan’s future.

In Taiwan the answer to the bucket question is not that obvious. As it stands, Taiwan is #1 in the world in terms of brain drain and losing its local human capital at an alarming rate every month. Taiwan is set to keep this dubious leading position for the foreseeable future. As it stands our Taiwanese bucket has some serious holes in it including comparative high cost of living, limited upward mobility, low wages and difficult working environments. No wonder that talented Taiwanese are leaving.

In an effort to offset these leaks, Taiwan introduced different visa initiatives which aim to add workers and talent to the Taiwanese bucket from different sources. At the top of these initiatives is the Gold Card program. Its aim is to attract high-end professional talent to Taiwan’s shores and as I have written about extensively and most recently in this Common Wealth article that went viral. In reality it will be…