First-time job seekers may not get the average starting monthly salary for new graduates as they expected, despite the nation’s economy being well on track for a solid recovery this year, an online manpower agency said in a report released yesterday.
The 104 Job Bank’s (104人力銀行) survey, which polled 1,675 first-time jobseekers between April 26 and May 10, found that first-time jobseekers with a bachelor’s degree expected an average monthly salary of NT$27,175 this year, with applicants with a master’s degree or higher anticipating an average of NT$37,063.
However, in a separate survey polling 639 companies during the same period by the agency, employers would be willing to pay an average of NT$26,432 per month for an employee who just graduated with an undergraduate degree, while offering NT$28,944 to those with a master’s degree or higher.
RAISE LATER, NOT NOW
“Most employers prefer raising salaries after a new graduate works for them for more than a year than offering higher starting salaries in the beginning,” Regis Chen (陳力孓), 104 Job Bank’s marketing director, said at a media briefing.
Hsin Ping-lung (辛炳隆), an associate professor at National Taiwan University’s Graduate Institute of National Development, said that “long service” to a company has become a more important and reliable indicator for employers in evaluating pay.
“The widened industrial structure requires most new graduates who lack professional experience to meet expectations by working for a year or more, further influencing employers’ unwillingness to offer higher starting salaries,” Hsin told a media briefing.
FOCUS ON LEARNING
According to the survey, more than 70 percent of employers would raise salaries for these kinds of employees when they work up to five years, followed by 26.45 percent who would offer raises within one to three years of employment and 46.55 percent for three to five years of work.
“As the key moment for an employee’s salary standard would be the third to fifth year, first-time jobseekers should focus more on learning in their first job, instead of the salary,” Chen said.
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