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Degree inflation cheapens job-hunters' B.A. diplomas

Companies in Taiwan tend to employ workers with postgraduate education, leaving college graduates few job opportunities, according to a job-tracking and career consulting firm yesterday.

Citing a poll results collected from 201 human resources executives in September, Kevin Zang (臧聲遠), chief editor of the local monthly magazine Career (就業情報), said at a press conference yesterday that the industry and service sectors are gradually turning to job candidates with a master's degree as the university admission rate has surpassed 80 percent, making a bachelor's degree worthless in terms of talent selection.

People with a master's degree have surged threefold from 42,000 in 1998 to 160,000 last year, including those enrolling in on-the-job courses, as graduate schools also mushroomed from 800 to 2,200 nationwide during the same period.

The survey found that most financial institutions hired 15 percent to 20 percent of employees with a master's degree, while the ratio tops 20 percent at high-tech companies.

"The quality of employees represents an important indicator to assess a company's competitiveness," said Christina Ongg (翁靜玉), the magazine's chairwoman.

In terms of job categories, the report said the top five categories hiring master's degree holders are R&D staff (69.9 percent), marketing personnel (51.8 percent), salespeople dealing with foreign companies (35.2 per-cent), human resources (34.2 percent) and legal personnel (33.2 percent).

As a result, employers' preference for better-educated work-ers has motivated many job-seekers to pursue advanced studies, Zang said.

In the magazine's March survey on students in their 20s, only 5.7 percent said they go to graduate schools for the sake of knowledge, a stark contrast with the majority admitting that postgraduate education would help in job-hunting.

Even so, three-fourths of executives seek employees with a master's degree, saying they display better research and language abilities than university graduates.

Noting that on-the-job master's degree courses are becoming popular, Zang suggested this route to those eager to enhance their competitive edge.

Although the job market appears bright for postgraduate-educated job hunters, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics reported that the unemployment rate has climbed since April to 4.67 percent in August.

Zang said some high-tech companies have reduced hiring and even shut down factories in the year's second half, which led to more people out of work.
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