The nation’s hiring prospects for the July-to-September quarter will remain robust in the electronics, manufacturing, finance and insurance industries, outperforming those in the wholesale and retail trade sectors, according to a quarterly survey of employers by Manpower Inc.
Of the 1,029 employers polled this quarter, 41 percent said they would increase their staff in the coming quarter, 2 percent planned a decrease in hiring and 56 percent expected to maintain their current payrolls, the Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based employment services provider said in a report released yesterday.
In the Asia-Pacific, job prospects will continue to grow in India, Taiwan and Singapore, with Japanese employers reporting the weakest hiring intentions in the region, the report said.
Globally, job prospects have improved in 20 of 39 countries and territories for the coming quarter from the previous quarter, with employers in India, Brazil, Taiwan, Turkey and Singapore having the strongest hiring expectations, while those in Spain, Greece, Italy and Ireland showed the weakest, Manpower data showed.
In other words, the latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey report indicated that Taiwan will have the second-strongest job prospects in the Asia-Pacific region and the third-best in the world.
Despite the improvements in job outlook across all major economies in the third quarter, which the latest global survey showed would have improvements in 24 economies and deteriorations in nine, Manpower chairman and chief executive Jeffrey Joerres said each market is facing its own set of supply and demand challenges.
“Many of our clients in developed markets are beginning to feel the talent crunch as aging workers retire; clients in emerging markets may have a surplus of candidates who often don’t possess the level of education, skills and experience required for the job,” Joerres said in a statement.
In Taiwan, the jobless rate fell to 4.29 percent in April — its lowest level in 31 months — but employers are still facing a skills shortage and other challenges, Terence Liu (劉玿廷), general manager of Manpower Services (Taiwan) Co, said in a separate statement.
"Financial firms continue to add to their staff rolls as they compete for market share not only in Taiwan but also China,” Liu said.
But, "A slower external trading environment and softer consumer demand from the US and Europe may soon impact the manufacturing sector," Liu said, adding that additional challenges would come from worker shortages, rising wages and competition from other low-cost regions.
Taiwanese employers have increased their hiring needs since the global downturn in 2008, only to find out that there is an increasing number of job candidates who often don’t possess the necessary level of education, skills and experience.
Manpower said the growing skills shortage would demand businesses, educators and governments to work together and seek innovative ways to solve the problem while ensuring future economic growth.
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