About 60 percent of employers in Taiwan are willing to hire first-time jobseekers at a time when many students are graduating and entering the job market, a survey conducted by 1111 Job Bank (1111人力銀行) showed on Saturday.
About 60.1 percent of employers said that they were likely to hire first-time jobseekers this year, up from 56.6 percent in a similar survey conducted last year, the job bank said, citing the survey, which is based on 696 questionnaires collected from May 17 to May 31.
Employers who appeared interested in first-time jobseekers largely came from the service sector, education groups, government agencies, the healthcare industry and the agricultural sector.
Photo: Wu P-hsuan, Taipei Times
Companies which welcomed first-time jobseekers perceived them to be more cooperative and eager to learn new things, the survey showed.
The companies also said these new employees would ask for lower wages, according to the survey.
The service sector tends to need a larger workforce, 1111 Job Bank vice president Henry Ho (何啟聖) said, adding that this was particularly true after the government implemented tightened labor rules in December last year.
The rules require employers to give employees two days off per week and to pay overtime if they ask them to work during their time off.
The new regulations have reduced the maximum number of work hours from 84 hours per fortnight to 40 hours per week, with one mandatory day off and one flexible rest day per week, forcing employers to find more workers to meet staffing needs and accommodate their employees’ days off.
Labor demand in the service sector has been on the rise, making it easier for first-time jobseekers find work there, Ho said.
However, employers who did not want to hire first-time jobseekers said that newcomers did not have enough work experience, with some saying they did not have suitable jobs for first-time jobseekers, while others said their past experience hiring first-time jobseekers was bad, according to the survey.
The survey also showed that the average starting salary employers would offer first-time jobseekers stood at NT$28,004, the highest level since the Web site launched this type of survey in 2007.
Average starting salaries this year have grown 2.75 percent from last year, the second-highest growth rate in five years, only trailing the 2.87 percent growth seen last year.
Average starting wages for first-time jobseekers holding vocational education degrees was NT$27,073, up 2.8 percent from a year earlier, the average compensation for university graduates was NT$27,679, up 1.3 percent and average wages for master’s graduates stood at NT$29,246, up 1.35 percent.
A Ministry of Labor survey released earlier last week showed that the average starting salary for university graduates stood at NT$28,116 per month last year, an increase of NT$461 from the previous year, while among first-time employees across all educational levels, the average monthly salary last year was NT$26,723, the survey showed.
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