More than a quarter of Taiwanese companies plan to hire more workers next quarter amid an improving economy and a seasonal sales uptick, human resources advisory firm ManpowerGroup said yesterday.
About 28 percent of companies polled plan to add employees, 6 percent intend to cut back and 65 percent are maintaining current staff levels, a ManpowerGroup survey of 1,018 firms showed.
The findings represent a net job gain of 22 percent, or 25 percent after seasonal adjustments, better than three months earlier or the same time last year.
“That makes Taiwanese employers the most optimistic in the region and globally, consistent with an improving world economy, the rapid migration to automation among firms and the arrival of the holiday season,” ManpowerGroup Taiwan operations director Joan Yeh (葉朝蒂) said.
The financial and real-estate sectors showed the strongest demand for extra personnel, with a net gain of 31 percent, an increase of 6 percentage points quarter-on-quarter, the report said.
While sluggish transactions continue to weigh on the real-estate industry, the financial and service industries are seeking to catch up with latest financial technology trends and tap business opportunities to support the government’s New Southbound Policy, Yeh said.
People with artificial intelligence know-how or international work experience are in great demand, she said.
The net job gains rose to 30 percent for the manufacturing sector, an increase of 2 percentage points from this quarter, as technology and non-technology firms introduce automation to boost productivity, the report found.
That explained why exports of electronic parts and machinery tools rose to record highs last month, Yeh said.
Taiwan is home to component suppliers of global smartphone brands, which have been ramping up production to meet demand ahead of Christmas and the Lunar New Year holiday in February, government officials said.
Strong exports have made companies more willing to increase payrolls, especially for research and development engineers and assembly line workers, the report said.
The service industry posted net job gains of 29 percent, 2 percentage points higher than three months earlier, as new e-commerce players enter the market and recruit personnel to win customers and market share, it said.
The job market outlook is weakest for the civil engineering industry, with a net gain of 13 percent, the report said.
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