The global economic recession has brought a bit of pain to the local workforce, with even employees of listed companies concerned about job security.
The results of a survey conducted by the Chinese-language Business Weekly to be released today says that a sixth of listed companies polled are planning layoffs.
The magazine sent questionnaires to 794 listed companies and received 354 replies. Among the respondents, 72.9 percent said they have adopted cost-saving measures to counter the effects of a prolonged sluggish economy.
In addition, 32.7 percent of the respondents said they have frozen the number of employees on their payroll, 16.6 percent have laid-off personnel, and 11.5 percent are encouraging early retirement.
The survey showed that the most probable targets of corporate layoff programs are employees aged over 50, those who have worked with a company for more than 20 years, and those who hold middle-level positions.
Employees with professional skills, a good working attitude, foreign-language abilities, and a spirit of teamwork have more job security, according to the survey.
Nearly 60 percent of the respondents said that they have no plans to hire additional personnel, even if Taiwan's economic prospects make a turn for the better. For new recruitment plans, priorities will be given to sales personnel and technical workers.
The survey was conducted early this month.
In addition to questionnaires, the magazine also conducted telephone interviews with executives of the surveyed companies.
Taiwan's unemployment reached a record 4.51 percent last month as demand for electronics products from overseas remained depressed and companies moved operations to China.
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