A total of 895,000 workers in Taiwan have thought of finding new jobs this year, accounting for 8.89 percent of the total employed population, according to the results of a survey released yesterday by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).
The number marks the lowest level over the last five years since the number of workers thinking about finding new jobs peaked at 1.02 million in 2001, DGBAS officials said.
Among the workers who have thought about changing jobs this year, 514,000 are men and 381,000 are women, the officials said.
The annual survey is based on labor force statistics compiled in May.
As of May, workers had remained in their present jobs for eight years and seven months on average, which was one month longer than last year's survey.
By gender, the average length that the workers had spent on their present jobs was nine years and six months among male workers and seven years and five months among female workers.
On the reasons why workers would consider finding new jobs, 68.26 percent said they wanted a change in their work environment, while others said they wanted to increase their income.
Of the 895,000 workers who have contemplate switching jobs, 250,000, or 27.92 percent, have actually searched for new positions. The ratio represents a rise of 0.09 percentage points from last year and a substantial jump of 8.74 percentage points over a decade ago, according to the survey.
By age, 15.21 percent of the workers thinking about changing jobs are in the 15-to-24 age group, 6.36 percent are in the 45-to-64 age group and 1.3 percent are 65 or above.
While senior high school graduates account for the highest ratio among all potential job changers, at 10.12 percent, college graduates and those with higher education account for the lowest ratio, at 6.97 percent.
By industry, the largest percentage of potential job changers are from the hotel and restaurant industry, at 12.61 percent, followed by those from the mining industry, at 11.82 percent.
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