Taiwan works to address military personnel shortages

Taiwan's military continues to struggle with manpower shortages.

On November 13, the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, under the country's legislature, invited Minister Koo to deliver a special report and answer questions on the military's "Concrete Plans and Response Measures for Improving the Personnel Fill Rate." According to the report, the current fill rate stands at 79.2 percent, and the Ministry of National Defense (MND) expects it to reach 80 percent by year's end.

The report also noted that Taiwan's declining birth rate will reduce the number of men eligible for conscription to below 80,000 by 2027. At the same time, organizational adjustments and equipment upgrades have increased personnel requirements each year, resulting in more than 10,000 additional authorized positions compared with 2021.

This expansion has contributed to a downward trend in the actual fill rate. However, the report stated that the military's actual personnel count has increased by more than 3,000 compared with 2023, while the number of volunteer soldiers has grown by more than 2,000 over 2024.

Personnel fill rate is a key

Dr. Hu Jui-cho (胡瑞舟), a retired ROC Army major general and deputy director of the Taiwan Center for Security Studies at National Chengchi University (NCCU), told TCN the current personnel fill rate means that one out of every five authorized positions is unfilled, which significantly affects the military's ability to operate at full strength.

Dr. Hu further noted that averages alone are insufficient, and it is also important to examine staffing levels across different unit types, for example, combat units, hardship or high-risk units, and administrative units.

Taiwan People's Party legislator Lin Yi-chun (林憶君) said during the interpellation session that, based on information the MND provided to her office, staffing levels in combat units have clearly declined since 2019.

She noted that the affected units include air-defense and missile units, aviation special forces, armored units, mechanized infantry, and the Marine Corps. Many of these units not only fall short of the 80 percent staffing benchmark but, in some cases, have dropped below 75 percent.

Minister Koo responded that the report presented that day focused specifically on improving staffing levels.

"We will continue to work hard," he said. "We hope to see gradual improvement in recruitment, retention, and the issue of personnel deemed unfit for service. There is certainly room for progress, but we will keep working to raise the personnel fill rate," Koo added.



MND's measures await verification

Taiwan's current military service system has operated on a dual-track model of volunteer service and conscription since the Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) administration announced in 2022 that compulsory service would return to a one-year term beginning in 2024.

According to official planning, volunteer soldiers are assigned to frontline combat units, providing professional training and elite combat capability as the first line of national defense. Conscripts primarily serve in garrison units responsible for territorial defense, protecting key military and civilian infrastructure, supporting frontline combat units, and assisting in civil defense tasks.

In its Nov. 13 report, the MND outlined ten measures to boost the volunteer personnel fill rate, including strengthening campus recruitment, holding regular regional recruitment events, improving transition support for discharged personnel, establishing a noncommissioned officer supervisory system with revised allowances, and increasing meal and night-duty allowances.

Dr. Hu commented that the measures announced so far may have some effect, but salaries and the possibility of war with China are major influencing factors.

China sees self-ruled Taiwan (officially the Republic of China) as an inseparable part of its territory and has not ruled out the use of force to annex it.

He added that the government’s failure to uphold its own promises by cutting retirement pensions for veterans has seriously damaged its credibility, making it difficult to persuade potential recruits.

Kuomintang legislator Wan Mei-ling (萬美玲) asked about the amendments passed in June to the Pay Act of the Armed Forces, which increased the monthly allowance on top of the regular salary for volunteer soldiers to NT$30,000 (approximately US$980).

Wan argued this adjustment should serve as a major incentive and morale boost, and indeed, the number of applicants and enrollees for military academies has reached new highs this year.

Wan stated that the Executive Yuan, the executive branch of Taiwan's government, has been unwilling to allocate the budget for the pay raise. She asked Minister Koo whether he supports this salary increase and urged him to communicate again with Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) to ensure that funding is allocated in accordance with the law so that the military receives the raise next year.

Minister Koo responded that “the MND’s position is to continuously review the compensation of military personnel and adjust various allowances based on overall planning.”

Koo reiterated the five allowance measures that took effect in April this year, covering volunteer soldiers, combat units, air traffic controllers, electronic reconnaissance personnel, and cyber warfare personnel. He did not directly address the Wan's questions about the NT$30,000 pay raise mandated by the amendment of the Military Personnel Pay Act passed in June.

Adjustment is needed

Dr. Hu stated that worsening cross-strait relations and the intense pressure on Taiwan's armed forces make the military a labor-intensive profession that is not attractive to young people.

Dr. Hu also noted that although the national defense budget has grown rapidly and weapons procurement has expanded significantly, there may not be enough recruits to operate new equipment.

For example, the Air Force's pilot-to-cockpit ratio has long been low, and maintenance, operational proficiency, and other related issues are all directly linked to manpower, Hu added.

In 2021, the Legislative Yuan's Organic Law and Statute Bureau recommended that the Air Force's long-standing problem of a low "pilot-to-cockpit ratio" must be resolved before considering expanding the number of fighter jets or adding new fighter wings.



Discouraging incentives

During questioning, Democratic Progressive Party legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) pointed out that under the current noncommissioned officer (NCO) supervisory system, the structure of combat allowances may create reverse incentives.

Company-level units receive combat allowances, but battalion-level units do not. Wang stated that when a competent company-level NCO is promoted to battalion-level NCO supervisor, their responsibilities increase, but their pay decreases. This discourages capable junior NCOs from seeking promotion.

Wang said he understood that the MND had proposed to the Executive Yuan that battalion-level NCO supervisors should also receive combat allowances, but the proposal was blocked by the Ministry of Finance, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, and the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration. He called this a mistake.

Wang further suggested that as the military upgrades its equipment, it should consider how to incorporate AI and automation, and should conduct a comprehensive review of how manpower positions are allocated and utilized under the current organizational structure.