The number of office workers looking for an extra part-time job has soared to its highest level in four years, reflecting growing income insecurity amid the economic downturn, a survey released yesterday showed.
The survey was conducted jointly by online employment broker Pan Asia Job Bank (汎亞人力銀行) and jcase.com.tw, which specializes in part-time and outsourced staffing services.
It revealed that 39.44 percent of respondents already have second jobs, while 88.27 percent of those who have not found part-time jobs intend to do so.
While 62 percent of respondents described themselves as “very poor” or “somewhat poor,” 31.6 percent considered themselves “barely able to make ends meet.” Only 6.37 percent said they “possess a small amount of wealth” or were “quite wealthy.”
Factors contributing to the feeling of poverty among workers include shrinking salaries, high unemployment and heavy pressure to repay mortgages and car loans, the survey found.
The results also reflected a lack of confidence among workers on finding employment, with 62.66 percent of respondents saying they were “really not confident” or “not confident” about finding a job or succeeding in switching jobs.
Meanwhile, 18.85 percent of respondents said they had taken a pay cut, 9.65 percent have been on unpaid leave, and 11.75 percent had been laid off.
Joanne Yang (楊智斐), marketing director for Pan Asia Job Bank, said although the economy has shown signs of improvement, most firms are concerned about the economic situation and have not increased hiring of permanent staff.
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