Wed, Jun 09, 2010 page11

• Taiwan has third-best job prospects in world: report

  HEADCOUNTS The latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey found that Taiwanese employers in the manufacturing sector are the most optimistic

  • By Kevin Chen / STAFF REPORTER
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  Taiwanese employers remain positive about staffing demand in the third quarter of this year, with the nation reporting the second-best job prospects in the Asia-Pacific region and the third-strongest in the world, a report released yesterday by Manpower Inc showed.

  Of the 1,126 employers polled this month, 42 percent said they would increase their staff in the coming quarter, 3 percent planned to trim their headcounts and 53 percent expected to maintain their current payrolls, the Milwaukee-based employment services provider said in the report.

  The latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey indicated that next quarter would offer the most promising hiring environment in Taiwan since the second quarter of 2005, when the poll began.

  This can be gauged by the employment agency’s “net employment outlook” figure — calculated by subtracting the number of employers planning to reduce staffing levels from the number planning to hire workers — which stands at a strong 39 percent for the three months ending Sept. 30, up 4 percentage points from the current quarter and 27 percentage points higher than a year ago.

  After seasonal adjustment, the nation’s net employment score stands at 35 percent for the coming quarter, which also makes Taiwan the third-highest in the world, following India’s 42 percent and Brazil’s 40 percent, the report said.

  Globally, Manpower said employers in 31 of 36 economies expected positive hiring activity in the third quarter, four predicted personnel numbers would decline and one expects payrolls to stay unchanged.

  In the Asia-Pacific region, job prospects remain strong in the quarter ahead and improvements are expected in each of the eight economies surveyed, with India, Taiwan and China appearing most promising in hiring, Manpower said.

  “The survey results indicate that employers’ hiring confidence is restored,” Terence Liu (劉玿廷), general manager of Manpower Services (Taiwan) Co, said in an e-mailed statement. The unemployment rate dropped to 5.39 percent in April from 5.67 percent in the previous month, the government’s statistics bureau reported on May 24.

  However, Liu stressed that a sustained and solid recovery in the job market would still depend on a fundamental improvement in the local business environment.

  In terms of industry sectors, the quarterly report found Taiwanese employers in the manufacturing sector the most optimistic, with a net employment outlook figure of 45 percent, according to Manpower.

  That was followed by the finance, insurance and real-estate sectors (39 percent) and the services sector (35 percent). In contrast, employers in the wholesale and retail trade sectors would have the weakest staffing demand, with employers reporting a net outlook figure of 26 percent.

  “Taiwan’s labor market is still closely tied with talent supply,” Liu said.

  As the nation’s economy has gradually recovered from last year’s recession, employers are looking to recruit people who are not only equipped with specific skills, but can also make a contribution to their company in the shortest time, Liu said.

  “However, finding talent with these specific skills can be difficult, and employers will continue to be challenged with talent shortages,” he added.
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