The Ministry of Labor last week released a survey showing that companies plan to hire 38,000 more people in the second quarter than they did in the first quarter, the largest number of new hires in the past seven quarters.
Subtracting the number of employers planning to reduce staffing from the number planning to hire, there will be 30,002 new jobs created in the second quarter, 13 percent more than the net increase of 26,523 jobs this quarter and 55 percent more than the 19,334 jobs created during the same period last year.
The survey, which was conducted between Jan. 9 and Jan. 26, showed that the nation’s labor market is steadily improving and the increase in new hires reflects a recovery in the economy.
The manufacturing sector accounts for the biggest portion of planned new hires, with a net increase of 14,485 jobs, followed by the wholesale and retail sector with 5,543 jobs.
The ministry said it also found that more employers plan to hire new staff to meet demand created by the implementation of new labor rules this year. While it remains unknown to what extent the new rules are triggering new hiring, internal and external factors — such as the Cabinet’s plans for national development projects, a better-than-expected US economy and a stabilizing economy in China — boost demand for new employees.
The survey is welcome news for young jobseekers in view of the nation’s serious problem of youth unemployment. The latest data show that the unemployment rate in January was highest among people aged 15 to 24 at 12.1 percent, followed by the 25-to-29 age bracket at 6.58 percent, compared with the overall unemployment rate of 3.78 percent.
However, it does not mean the new job openings will be fully filled. This is a key point frequently made by trade groups and human resources agencies, which say the persistent problem of a skills gap between graduates and the job market limits hiring.
A recent survey by ManpowerGroup, a US-based human resources advisory firm, found that 73 percent of Taiwanese employers said they had difficulty filling critical positions last year — the second-highest percentage among the 43 countries polled (second only to Japan’s 80 percent) and far exceeding the global average of 40 percent.
For years, a skills gap of varying degrees has existed in every segment of the economy. Employers say this mismatch is due to applicants’ lack of experience, technical competency or business knowledge, while jobseekers believe it indicates a discrepancy between what they learn at school and what tasks they must perform at work.
Suggestions abound over how the government, the educational system and the corporate world should collaborate to tackle the problem, but little progress has been made in narrowing the skills gap and that has forced many graduates to seek lower-paying jobs.
Moreover, the official unemployment rate does not include the long-term unemployed — people who have not had a job for more than a year and who have given up looking. There were 65,000 long-term unemployed in January.
In spite of the improving labor market, the problem of long-term unemployment remains, reflecting structural problems such as slowing economic growth, the rapid pace of change in the job market and the proposed pension system reforms.
With Taiwan set to become an “aging society” next year and a “super-aging society” by 2025, a major task for the labor market will be to absorb more middle-aged or older people looking for work.
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