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Employers expect to add to financial sector's workforce

With fallouts of consumer credit risks fading out, the financial sector looks set to increase its workforce in the next quarter, raising the nation's staffing demand by 4 percentage points, a report released by Manpower Services (Taiwan) Co showed yesterday.

Of the 1,349 employers interviewed this quarter, 26 percent expected to increase their staff between next month and June, while 7 percent expected to reduce their payrolls. Fifty-nine percent said they did not expect any change in staff numbers, general manager Dennis Lee (李崇領) said.

This results in a "net employment outlook" figure -- calculated by subtracting the percentage of employers planning to reduce staffing levels from the percentage planning to hire staff -- of 19 percent.

The figure is up 4 percentage points from the current quarter and down 12 percentage points from the same period last year.

Although hiring activity has picked up from the fourth quarter last year, when the net employment outlook figure was 14 percent, the nation continues to report the Asia-Pacific region's weakest hiring intentions for the third straight quarter, the survey showed.

Singapore, New Zealand and Australia were very optimistic, as their employment outlook figures stood at 54 percent, 29 percent and 29 percent, respectively.

"Historically, the second quarter is the season for job transitions. However, the survey shows that almost 60 percent of employers have no intention of altering staff numbers and this adds to the challenges job seekers face when planning a career change," Lee said.

"People should consult professionals and carefully analyze the pros and cons before making any changes," he added.

Employers in the finance, insurance and real estate sectors had the most optimistic hiring intentions this quarter, with the figure standing at a solid 27 percent.

Employers in the transportation and utilities sectors reported the weakest hiring intentions, with the figure at 6 percent. The launch of the bullet train system along the west coast has deterred other transportation operators, such as airliners, from increasing investments, Lee said.

Strong Hu (胡之壯), agency director with the Taiwanese branch of Winterthur Life, expressed confidence in the insurance sector's job outlook.

The nation's insurers took in NT$524.6 billion (US$16 billion) in premium income on new policies. Fifty-nine percent of new policies came from sales personnel, 2 percentage points higher than the previous year, Hu said.

Citing a survey conducted earlier, Hu said that 92 percent of the respondents said they still preferred buying policies from agents, although banking and telemarketing channels were becoming popular alternatives.

"Now insurers emphasize the professional background of their sales representatives to facilitate the promotion of popular investment-linked policies. From what I've seen, I'm sure the insurance sector will continue to report strong hiring activity," he said.
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