Taiwanese companies plan to increase their payrolls next quarter, buoyed by expectations of continued business pickup amid a stable global economy, US-based human resources advisory firm ManpowerGroup Corp said yesterday.
The quarterly survey showed that 30 percent of employers are looking to raise staffing levels, while 3 percent expect to cut numbers and 64 percent plan to hold personnel numbers steady.
The net job gains after seasonal adjustments stand at 26 percent, the highest in two years and the most optimistic in the Asia-Pacific region, the survey said after polling 1,035 Taiwanese employers.
Taiwanese jobseekers look to benefit from the active hiring pace across the region in the next three months, as 41 of the 44 countries surveyed intend to add employees, the firm said.
Despite the positive results, confidence among some employers in Taiwan, especially manufacturers, softened from three months earlier due to the arrival of a slow season, ManpowerGroup Taiwan general manager Allen Ng (吳璧昇) said.
Taiwan is home to the world’s leading contract chipmakers, chip designers and suppliers of camera lenses, flat panels, casing and other electronics components used in smartphones and laptops, as well as the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence applications.
Expectations of interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve has helped to deepen the cautious sentiment, he said.
UNSKILLED WORK
Most job openings are in central Taiwan’s industrial parks where several big firms have completed work on capacity expansion and need more engineers and low-skilled workers, the survey said.
Employers in the finance, insurance and real-estate sectors are most upbeat about payroll growth, with 32 percent looking for employees, the survey found.
Most banks in Taiwan are expanding their footprint in Southeast Asia and plan to add employees to help attract new clients and support the government’s New Southbound Policy, Ng said.
Financial service providers, which recorded overall profit growth last year, have sought to tap new businesses over the Internet as visits to brick-and-mortar offices have plunged, he said.
Financial regulators have relaxed rules to encourage development of financial technologies, so professionals with innovative marketing and sales ideas are in great demand, the survey said.
An increase in property transactions last year has prompted brokers to recruit more sales representatives, it added.
In the wholesale and retail-trade sectors, 26 percent of employers are looking to increase their headcounts, it said.
The pace of job gains is a moderate 21 percent for transportation and warehousing service providers, and 17 percent for the leisure and hospitality industry, the survey said.
The first quarter is high season for both industries, whose business demands are expected to hold steady, it said.
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