The majority of the nation’s college graduates still prefer working at government agencies or state-run companies, jobs described locally as “golden rice bowls,” which promise job security and a steady income and benefits, the results of a survey released yesterday showed.
Citing a poll conducted by Cheers monthly magazine in March, the “e-job” Web site operated by the Council of Labor Affairs said the number of the graduates seeking a career as civil servants or at state-run enterprises surpassed the number of those planning to work in the private sector for the first time in years.
Thirty-nine percent of the respondents, who were to graduate from colleges and universities next month, said they wanted to work at a government agency, while 27.8 percent were hoping for a job at a state-run company.
The two figures combined were higher than the 60.3 percent of those who said want to apply for a job in the private sector after graduation, the survey of students from 174 colleges and universities showed.
The numbers added up to more than 100 percent because respondents were allowed to choose more than one answer to the question.
A total of 4,200 surveys were mailed to the students, with 2,204 valid samples sent back to Cheers.
E-job operations director Chen Ting-yu (陳定宇) attributed the results to a change in market perceptions, where wages and benefits at public agencies or state-owned enterprises are seen as more secure than at private companies.
In Taiwan, those who seek a “golden rice bowl” job — known as such recently because of the increasing difficulty in finding a public-sector job — have to pass a national examination simply to submit an application.
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