The service sector employs more than half of Taiwanese workers, with the average annual wage in the sector reaching about NT$477,000, and most of the jobs in the dining, retail and transportation sectors, a survey by 1111 Job Bank showed.
The service sector used to be thought of as offering low wages because it had an easy entry threshold, job bank vice president Daniel Lee (李大華) said, adding that starting salaries in the sector did use to lag behind other industries.
As a result, many of the nation’s jobseekers used to shun openings in the industry, he said.
However, Lee said that this stereotype has been reversed in recent years as the mobility rate in the service sector has increased and senior employees have enjoyed high wage growth.
In addition, many workers in the sector have benefited from a peak season effect when they can see their wages increase.
In recent years, the service sector has gained popularity among jobseekers, Lee said.
The job bank cited a report released by the Cabinet’s Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) as saying that the number of workers in the local service sector averaged about 6.61 million last year, representing 59 percent of the total work force.
The DGBAS report also showed that the service sector accounted for 62.8 percent of Taiwan’s total GDP last year.
The job bank said the service sector has played an important role in Taiwan’s job market and economy.
It said that 20.2 percent of respondents said their wages during the peak season were 36.9 percent higher than their average monthly wage.
The survey showed that 3.41 percent of respondents said their income during the peak season was more than double their average monthly wage.
Being promoted was also relatively easy, the results indicated.
According to the survey, 85 percent of the respondents said that they were promoted after they worked for their companies for only two to three months.
Employees in department stores said they were promoted into to a section head position after just one year, the highest mobility in the service sector.
However, employees in the hotel industry had to work for an average of three-and-a-half years to get promoted to a section head position, the survey showed.
The survey was conducted between March 25 and April 5, and collected 654 valid questionnaires.
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