The average starting salary received by new graduates this year in their first jobs fell about 4 percent from the same period last year, although the nation’s economy showed signs of improving, according to a survey released by the online 1111 Job Bank 1111 (人力銀行) on Friday.
The Web site said the average starting wage received by new graduates was NT$26,250, down NT$1,074, or almost 4 percent, from the previous year.
1111 Job Bank vice president Daniel Lee (李大華) said that despite signs of an economic recovery, the pace remains slow, which made first-time jobseekers cautious when looking for work.
Lee said that the lower starting salaries showed many new graduates preferred to first secure a job with lower remuneration, then set their sights on landing a job with a higher salary.
The fall in starting wages indicates that employers are tightening their belts before the minimum wage rises are implemented next year, he said.
The monthly wage is to rise from NT$20,008 to NT$21,009, while the hourly wage is to increase from NT$126 to NT$133.
The hike in the minimum wage is expected to increase basic employee salaries and overtime pay, which means many employers have cut packages for newcomers, he said.
Due to the lower starting wages, 63 percent of the 1,304 new graduates polled said they planned to take a part-time job to supplement their incomes.
The Web site said part-time jobs — such as translators, tutors at cram schools or online vendors — often have more flexible work hours.
The survey showed that about 80 percent of respondents had landed a job, up 15 percentage points from a similar survey conducted last year.
According to the survey, 22.6 percent of respondents said they had received an offer before graduating, while on average those polled took 32 days to land a job.
The Web site said that the service industry, the IT business and the retail sector were the three most attractive industries for new graduates.
The survey, conducted from Nov. 9 to Wednesday last week, has a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.
In related news, the Ministry of Labor on Saturday said that several retailers have joined a government campaign aimed at recruiting new workers as the peak year-end shopping season is approaching.
The ministry’s Workforce Development Agency is planning to hold a job fair in collaboration with retailers next month to help them hire the nearly 5,000 additional workers needed.
The agency’s TaiwanJobs (台灣就業通) recruitment platform also helps retailers, such as liquor chain Drinks Wines & Spirits Co (橡木桶洋酒), home furnishing chain Test Rite Retail Co (特力), supermarket chain Wellcome (頂好超市) and organic food provider Cotton Field Organic Co (棉花糖生機園地), attract new employees online, the ministry said.
The retailers require full-time cashiers, sales staff, warehouse workers and part-time workers, the ministry said.
The domestic unit of the Chinese-owned, Dutch-headquartered chipmaker Nexperia BV will soon be able to produce semiconductors locally within China, according to two company sources. Nexperia is at the center of a global tug-of-war over critical semiconductor technology, with a Dutch court in February ordering a probe into alleged mismanagement at the company. The geopolitical tussle has disrupted supply chains, with some carmakers reportedly forced to cut production due to chip shortages. Local production would allow Nexperia’s domestic arm, Nexperia Semiconductors (China) Ltd (安世半導體中國), to bypass restrictions in place since October on the supply of silicon wafers — etched with tiny components to
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday received government approval to deploy its advanced 3-nanometer (3nm) process at its second fab currently under construction in Japan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a news release. The ministry green-lit the plan for the facility in Kumamoto, which is scheduled to start installing equipment and come online in 2028 with a monthly production capacity of 15,000 12-inch wafers, the ministry said. The Department of Investment Review in June 2024 authorized a US$5.26 billion investment for the facility, slated to manufacture 6- to 12nm chips, significantly less advanced than 3nm process. At a meeting with
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
RSS