Recruiting qualified staff remains the top business challenge for German companies in Taiwan, a survey by the German Trade Office Taipei showed.
Sixty-five percent of respondents cited the problem as the biggest challenge for doing business in Taiwan, up 11.1 percentage points from last year, the annual survey found.
Almost one-third of companies with job vacancies have been trying to fill positions for more than six months, the survey showed.
Seventy-eight percent of German firms said they struggle to fill senior positions that require more than eight years of experience, while only 18 percent reported difficulties filling entry-level positions with university graduates, the survey showed.
Technical sales and management positions were the most difficult to fill, while sales and emerging positions had the highest turnover rates, it said.
Salary levels are considered relatively low in light of productivity and qualifications involved, it added.
German employers appreciate the reliability, work ethic and professional skills of Taiwanese staff, and cited English-language abilities and independent thinking as areas that need improvement, the survey showed.
About 60 percent of German companies expect to achieve or surpass their business targets this year on the back of continued economic recovery, the survey said.
Fifty-eight percent of the companies surveyed expect revenue growth this year, but only 43 percent are expecting increased profits, the survey found.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents said that authorities are friendly toward their business, a jump from 45 percent last year, it showed.
Taiwan was Germany’s fifth-largest trading partner in Asia last year, commanding a stable business share of 4.3 percent in the region. The majority of German companies in the nation are small to medium-sized enterprises focusing on technology intensive machinery and industrial equipment. Together they employ 13,000 staff in Taiwan.
The survey was conducted among 236 German firms between May 11 and June 17.
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