The COVID-19 outbreak in China is dampening Taiwanese’s interest in jobs there, while many who work there intend to return home, online recruitment agency 104 Job Bank said yesterday.
It is common for Taiwanese employees to change jobs after the Lunar New Year holiday, the nation’s largest job bank said.
The outbreak is causing jobseekers to look for positions in Taiwan instead of China, which they usually do to take advantage of its fast-growing economy, the company said.
The trend became especially evident after China on Jan. 23 locked down Hubei Province, whose capital, Wuhan, is the origin of the disease, it said
About 63 percent of Taiwanese who work in China said they would not return to their jobs, up from 50 percent before the lockdown, the job bank said, citing a survey, adding that 37 percent said they would still accept positions in the country.
The failure of many Chinese firms to resume normal operations has also weighed on the decisions, 104 Job Bank senior vice president Jason Chin (晉麗明) said.
More than 30 Chinese cities have implemented travel restrictions and quarantines in a bid to contain the outbreak, making it unpractical and undesirable for people to work there, Chin said.
Many Chinese firms have pushed back recruitment schedules, allowing applicants more time and flexibility to arrange interviews or start work amid health concerns and difficulty traveling, Chin added.
Operational disruptions hit technology clusters in Shanghai, Beijing, Zhengzhou, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Shenzhen, where Taiwanese electronics firms are prominent, the job bank said.
Against the backdrop, legal, accounting, consultancy, research and development positions saw the biggest decline at 19 percentage points by number of applicants, followed by 16 percentage points for wholesale and retail businesses, and 13 percentage points for manufacturers, it said.
The number of applicants for software development and semiconductor-related positions fell by 11 percentage points, it added.
Asked about their next move, 95 percent of respondents said they plan to seek jobs in Taiwan, while 9 percent said they would work in Southeast Asia, the job bank said.
Companies might become conservative about adding staff as the outbreak intensifies, Chin said.
“We will pay close attention to compensation adjustments in companies in Taiwan and abroad, as China’s GDP growth is bound to slow down and affect the global economy,” he said.
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