Local companies have turned conservative about hiring activity next quarter as lingering trade tensions between the US and China dampen the business outlook, a ManpowerGroup Inc survey released on Tuesday showed.
Only 22 percent of employers plan to increase payrolls, 4 percent are looking at a drop and 72 percent aim to maintain their payroll, the quarterly survey found.
That translated into a 21 percent net gain after seasonal adjustments, a decline of 4 percentage points from a year earlier, the firm said.
“With no solution in sight for the trade dispute, companies have voiced concern that they might have to pay higher tariffs, which could weaken their profitability and competitiveness,” ManpowerGroup Taiwan general manager Allen Ng (吳璧昇) said in a statement.
Local firms have turned conservative about hiring due to weak sentiment and a slowdown in demand for semiconductors, Ng said.
Taiwan is home to some of the world’s largest semiconductor firms.
In the manufacturing industry, on which the specter of a profit decline has weighed, hiring intentions shed 12 percentage points to 22 percent, the lowest level in two years, the survey found.
Many Taiwanese companies manufacture machine tools and electronic components in China, and then ship them to the US market, Ng said, adding that those companies would bear the brunt of trade frictions.
The job outlook for the services sectors stood at 22 percent, a retreat of 3 percentage points from three months earlier and 9 percentage points from the same period last year, the survey found.
E-commerce operators, the main source of new jobs, have seen a pickup in business, with artificial intelligence engineers and analysts in great demand, while competition has sharpened, it found.
Hiring intentions for firms in the finance, insurance and real-estate sectors plunged to their lowest level in nine years, with a net employment gain of 18 percent in the next three months, the survey showed.
Besides the trade dispute, the monetary policies of various central banks pose another major risk for those sectors, it found.
Some employers intend to freeze vacant positions in case the world’s economy slips into a recession, Ng said.
Firms in the transportation and utilities sectors reported the strongest hiring plans, with a net gain of 27 percent next quarter, ManpowerGroup said.
That represented an improvement of 5 percentage points and 6 percentage points from three months and a year earlier respectively.
Ng attributed the increase to the Lunar New Year holiday, a high sales season for travel, logistics and delivery services.
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