While only 10 percent of the country's businesses will increase their staff numbers by more than 10 percent next year, the financial, investment consulting and insurance industries expressed the strongest hiring intentions, according to the results of a survey released yesterday by an online employment service provider.
The survey showed that 82 percent of employers in the financial, investment consulting and insurance industries would hire more workers next year, with one-quarter of financial companies expected to increase their staff by more than 20 percent.
The legal, accounting, consulting and research and development industries ranked second, with 76 percent of employers planning to increase their work force next year.
Sixty-eight percent of employers in the transportation, logistic and warehousing industries, 64 percent in the electronics and information technology industries, and 62 percent in the service industry, also intended to increase their work force.
The survey was conducted by 104 Job Bank on 922 businesses between Nov. 22 and Nov. 28 and 1,178 workers between Nov. 27 and Dec. 6.
The Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported last week that Taiwan's jobless rate fell slightly last month to 3.86 percent from 3.9 percent in October.
In the first 11 months of the year, the unemployment rate was 3.91 percent, which was the lowest for that period in six years, according to DGBAS.
The job bank's survey also showed that 53.9 percent of office workers were looking for a new job, while 36.2 percent would not rule out the possibility of changing jobs.
Only 10 percent of workers expressed no intention of changing jobs. These included 11.9 percent of male workers and 7.3 percent of female workers.
The electronics and information technology industries remained the field that the largest number of workers hoped to enter and was favored by 35.9 percent of the respondents. The travel, leisure and sports industries ranked second, favored by 10.1 percent.
When asked about their reasons for considering a job change, most non-management level workers said they would change employers to secure higher pay and better benefits. Most junior and middle-ranking executives said they would change jobs for better opportunities for personal development.
Senior executives cited differing opinions with their employers about business as the major reason they would change jobs.
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