The population of atypical workers has expanded in the country as an increasing number of employers are replacing permanent positions with temporary and contractual ones amid the economic downturn, an annual human resources report released last week showed.
TEMPORARY WORK
As of May, 687,000 workers were engaged in atypical employment such as seasonal, temporary agency and part-time work, marking an increase of 37,000 or 0.47 percent from last year’s level, the report by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) showed.
The number accounted for 6.71 percent of the country’s employed population, up from 6.24 percent a year ago, the report said.
DGBAS officials said the increase was in line with a global trend in which more businesses switch to atypical employment patterns to reduce personnel costs.
Employment data published by the DGBAS last month showed that the average monthly regular earnings of atypical workers were 49.7 percent of those received by standard, full-time, permanent workers.
LONG-TERM JOBLESS
On the unemployment situation in the country, the report indicated that as of May, there were 99,000 long-term jobless workers — defined as those who have been out of work for more than a year.
Among those workers, 55,000 said they did not come across any job opportunities during the unemployment period, mainly because of their age or skill deficiencies.
LOW PAY
Another 44,000 of the workers had employment opportunities but did not accept them mainly because of the low pay.
The average monthly salary long-term jobless workers expected to make was NT$28,333, slightly higher than the average expected salary of NT$28,019 among all unemployed workers, the report said.
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