Seventy-five percent want to switch jobs

Seventy-five percent of Taiwanese office workers are thinking about switching professions, according to the results of a survey released on Saturday.

While 54 percent of the respondents who have the idea said they will find a new job, 24 percent said they will start their own business.

The survey was conducted by the Chinese-language monthly magazine Smart (智富月刊) in cooperation with the online employment service provider 1111 Job Bank (1111人力銀行) on 1,896 office workers aged between 20 and 50 during the period Dec. 6-20. The survey is said to have a margin of error of plus or minus 2-3 percentage points.

On the reasons for wanting to switch professions, 54 percent of the respondents mentioned low salary; 34 percent said a lack of interest or sense of achievement; and 27 percent pointed to the bad outlook in their professions.

In terms of what field they want to enter, the top-five mentioned by the respondents were the high-tech, tourism, trade, optoelectronic communications and service sectors, in that order.

Among those who wish to start their own businesses, 31 percent said they wanted to start an online business; 27 percent were interested in opening a coffee shop; 26 percent wanted to work from home; 16.51 percent wanted to open an organic and health food store and 13.76 percent wanted to open a fashion boutique.