Interest in entrepreneurship has declined among the nation’s employees over the past year, amid a surge in job recruitment by domestic corporations, a survey released yesterday shows.
The poll by 1111 Job Bank (1111人力銀行) showed that about 76 percent of workers aspire to start their own business, compared with 87 percent a year ago.
The job bank attributed the drop in entrepreneurial interest to a climate of stronger recruitment among local corporations as the country’s economic fundamentals improve in tandem with a recovering global economy.
In January, the local jobless rate fell 0.31 percentage points annually to 3.71 percent, the lowest level for that month in 14 years.
The actual number of unemployed people was 430,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous month.
Amid this hiring trend, people have shown more interest in being employed in the local job market as opposed to starting their own businesses, 1111 Job Bank said.
The poll showed that 27 percent of those who prefer to be employed by a company are attracted by the prospect of a stable income, while 25.7 percent have no capital to start their own business.
Among those employees interested in going into business on their own, 30.5 percent are eyeing the restaurant business, 23.3 percent see customized product services as the way to go and 21.6 percent would like to set up their own workshops or studios.
The survey also showed that 17.3 percent want to join a franchise and 18.1 percent would like to open a beverage shop, while 16.9 percent want to create their own brands.
The aspiring entrepreneurs estimated that it would take on average NT$640,000 (US$20,317) to start a business in Taiwan, a figure 27 percent lower than that cited in the same poll last year.
The survey was conducted from Feb. 11 to Tuesday last week and collected 1,194 valid responses. It had a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of 2.83 percentage points.
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