Master’s and doctoral graduates are losing their edge in the job market, while skillful and multifunctional employees are finding more favor, a biweekly survey by online job-hunting agency yes123 showed yesterday.
Even though the nation’s unemployment rate is decreasing, young people still face many problems in the job market, including “the devaluation of academic diplomas,” company spokesman Bingo Yang (楊宗斌) said.
During the first four months of this year, the unemployment rate averaged 3.77 percent, down 0.12 percentage points from the same period last year, data released on Monday by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics showed.
Asked if a graduate degree is helpful in job hunting, 87 percent of the 1,472 respondents said no, the survey conducted from May 3 to Tuesday last week found.
Moreover, 88 percent of respondents said graduate degrees are not necessary for their work, the poll showed.
Asked if holding a degree from a foreign institution is helpful, 72.8 percent of respondents said no, Yang said.
As for differences in salaries, people with graduate degrees earn NT$2,882 more per month than those without, but 30.4 percent of respondents said they do not perceive any significant salary difference, the survey showed.
Analyzing the reason for the devaluation of diplomas, Yang said many employers said that highly educated employees tend to be overconfident, but less capable than expected.
Argus Liu, one of the six speakers at a news conference held to release the poll’s findings, has a doctorate from National Taiwan University’s Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering.
Liu, 41, said the academic training sharpened his ability to discover and solve problems, but he considered individual expertise and working ethics more significant than diplomas.
Yang said young people should pursue graduate studies only if they think they need it in the workplace, so as to reduce the disparity between education and practical experience.
Vocational college diplomas used to be attractive in the workforce, but their value has also dropped as an increasing number of colleges have been transformed into universities, Yang said.
Despite efforts to improve the nation’s vocational education, Yang said it is almost impossible for Taiwan to replicate Germany’s “craftsman” education system, and even the mentor-apprentice program subsidized by the Ministry of Labor is ending in August.
Largan Precision, a smartphone camera lens supplier to Apple Inc, has expressed difficulty recruiting workers even when it offers higher-than-usual salaries, since young people are less willing to do labor-intensive jobs, Yang said.
These problems are all related to the ubiquitous nature of universities in Taiwan and the arduous transformation of Taiwanese industries, he said.
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