Du Zicun's Perspective: Social Disillusionment Amid Digital Prosperity

In recent years, Taiwan has witnessed a fascinating phenomenon. On one hand, economic data continues to shine. Exports hit record highs, the stock market repeatedly breaks records, and high-tech industries report astonishing profits. International institutions generally maintain optimistic outlooks on Taiwan's economic future. Judging by statistics alone, Taiwan appears to be in a period of significant prosperity.

Yet, the lived experience of most people tells a different story. Young people complain about having no future, middle-class families worry about downward mobility, and service and traditional industries face heavy operational pressures. More and more people are asking: if Taiwan is truly becoming wealthier, why isn't life getting easier? This disconnect is precisely the root cause of the growing sense of social disillusionment.

The problem is not that the economy isn't growing, but rather how wealth is being accumulated has changed. For decades, Taiwanese society believed in a simple and effective logic: get educated, work hard, gain experience, and life would gradually improve. While wealth disparities existed, they were generally linked to individual ability, diligence, and effort.

Today, however, the key drivers of wealth accumulation are shifting from labor income to asset appreciation. Fueled by global capital flows and technological waves, the high-tech sector, stock market, and real estate prices have surged, creating massive wealth spillover effects. Tech blue chips like TSMC and MediaTek have driven long-term stock market growth, while housing prices near science parks have doubled within a few years. Those who own assets have seen their wealth grow rapidly.

But for many without assets, it's difficult to share in these gains. Sectors like healthcare, retail, and food services continue to struggle with labor shortages, high costs, and low profit margins. Meanwhile, wage growth for salaried workers lags far behind the pace of rising housing and asset prices. As a result, a paradoxical phenomenon emerges: the more the economy prospers, the stronger the frustration felt by the majority.

People are increasingly realizing that wealth disparities are no longer determined solely by effort, but by whether one stands on the side of asset appreciation. Two 30-year-olds may have vastly different outcomes: one, whose family owned property early, naturally accumulates tens of millions in wealth; the other, despite having a high degree, stable job, and long working hours, still struggles to afford urban housing. What makes this gap so disheartening is that it often stems not from differences in effort, but from unequal starting points.

As more people come to believe that 'buying property is better than working' and 'owning assets beats hard work,' societal values begin to shift subtly. This suggests Taiwan is gradually transitioning from a 'labor society' to an 'asset society.' In a labor society, people believe education and work can change their fate. In an asset society, wealth accumulation increasingly depends on the appreciation potential of assets themselves.

When a year's rise in housing prices exceeds many people's total earnings over several years, the meaning of work and effort naturally comes into question. Moreover, technological revolutions may further widen this gap. Artificial intelligence and semiconductor industries attract vast capital, high-paid talent, and policy resources, creating a clear 'star industry' effect. These sectors have indeed generated tremendous competitiveness for Taiwan and serve as key engines of economic growth. Yet, many non-tech industries are increasingly marginalized.

As resources and opportunities concentrate in fewer fields, society risks developing a structure of 'localized prosperity and widespread anxiety.' This divide is not only evident between industries but also across regions. Tech hubs like Hsinchu and Zhubei have rapidly prospered due to high-tech industries, with both housing prices and incomes rising. In contrast, many traditional industrial cities face population decline, reduced investment, and youth outmigration. Over time, despite living in the same country, people seem to inhabit two different worlds: one side enjoying a capital feast driven by AI and high-tech, the other stuck in stagnant lives with no clear path to improvement.

Notably, this sense of social disillusionment does not necessarily stem from actual poverty. Many households earn above-average incomes, yet they fear being gradually excluded from prosperity. They worry that even with dual incomes, high education, and long working hours, they cannot guarantee a better life for the next generation. When upward mobility becomes increasingly difficult, what people lose is not income, but hope.

This phenomenon is not unique to Taiwan. Silicon Valley in the U.S., London in the UK, Tokyo in Japan, and many other high-tech and financial centers have faced similar challenges. Innovation and capital generate immense wealth, but also drive up living costs and social fragmentation. As a result, many advanced nations have recently emphasized the importance of 'inclusive growth' and 'shared prosperity,' aiming to ensure broader participation in economic gains rather than benefits accruing to only a few industries or groups.

For Taiwan, the real challenge may no longer be how to create more wealth, but how to ensure more people can share in it. Strengthening SME transformation, improving wage structures, increasing affordable housing for youth, reducing excessive asset concentration, and building a more comprehensive vocational education and lifelong learning system are all crucial steps toward reducing this sense of alienation. After all, a society's most valuable asset is not GDP figures, but the hope that most people still hold for the future.

Ultimately, a healthy and stable society should not be one where only a few feel prosperity, but one where most believe that sustained effort will allow themselves and future generations to participate in and benefit from growth. Otherwise, even if the stock market hits new highs and GDP continues to rise, if more and more people are excluded from prosperity, economic growth will fail to translate into genuine social progress.

*The author is an observer of economic and social phenomena.