As the job market is recovering, bolstered by a robust economy, graduates this summer are expected to receive slightly higher salaries than last year, according to a poll released yesterday.
The poll was conducted by online job bank www.9999.com.tw (汎亞人力銀行) through 2,000 phone interviews with companies from 20 industries between March 1 and April 1. There were 1,314 valid respondents to the poll, which had a margin of error of 2.7 percent.
Overall, the poll indicated that employers plan to offer NT$26,880 per month, including starting salaries and benefits, an increase of 0.82 percent from last year.
The expanding finance and insurance sectors will provide the highest monthly salaries -- an average of NT$31,587 for new employees. The technology sector came second at NT$30,845 per month, and optoelectronics and telecommunications ranked third at NT$30,304.
Tourism, restaurants and wholesale and retail, which bore the financial brunt of the SARS outbreak last year, as well as the post-election row, were among the lowest-paying industries, set to offer NT$24,582, NT$24,959 and NT$25,945 respectively to new staff this summer, the survey said.
The poll indicated that salaries for graduates with master's degrees had sank, were from NT$31,124 to NT$30,987.
"The main reason for the decline is the boom in the number of mature graduates, which has grown fourfold during the past 10 years," Yang Ken-cheng (楊肯誠), chief operating officer of the job bank, told a press conference yesterday.
According to official statistics, nearly 150 new universities and colleges have been established in recent years, while many vocational schools have also upgraded their status as part of the government's push for more balanced regional development.
Against this backdrop, employers tend to adjust salaries for graduates with master's degrees from these new colleges to be on a par with national college graduates, Kevin Zang (
Acknowledging that wages for new career entrants this summer will be generally higher than last year, Zang said some are unable to take advantage of this fact.
"Many senior college students decided to go to graduate school last year, when the job market was exceptionally weak," he said.
For example, the number of students applying for entrance to graduate schools in National Central University has surged by 50 percent this year, Zang said. Another sign of the shortage of new blood can be seen at the job fairs held by various campuses in February and last month, in which companies received tepid interest from students, he said.
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