Sixty percent of workers in Taiwan have suffered occupational injuries or illnesses, causing 47 percent of the injured workers to quit their job, according to a survey released yesterday by the online 1111 Job Bank 1111, ahead of International Workers’ Day today.
The poll showed that out of the 60 percent of self-reported respondents who suffered work-related injuries or illnesses, 30 percent sustained permanent injuries, while 39.65 percent were still receiving medical treatment or undergoing rehabilitation, but expected to make a full recovery.
The poll showed that 31.28 percent of occupational accidents occurred in old-economy businesses or manufacturing.
Up to 64 percent of respondents who suffered occupational injuries or illnesses said they received no assistance other than that prescribed by the law, while 16.74 percent said they took advantage of an employer-sponsored group health insurance plan.
Only 14.54 percent of employers took an interest in injured or ill employees, or visited them, while 8.37 percent of employees were granted a period of paid recuperation.
The poll showed that 47 percent left their job after an occupational injury, including 32.16 percent who quit voluntarily, 8.37 percent who were forced to leave and 6.61 percent who resigned because they could no longer perform the job.
The online poll was conducted from April 12 to Friday last week among the job bank’s 1,128 members aged 18 and older. It has a confidence level of 95 percent and an error margin of 2.92 percentage points.
According to a survey released by the online job bank yes123 on Monday last week, office workers in Taiwan work an average of 9.1 hours a day, a slight increase from the nine hours shown in a similar poll conducted last year.
The poll showed that 37.8 percent of respondents said their work hours were too long, while 60.9 percent were satisfied with their work hours.
On average, respondents said that an ideal work day of 7.6 hours would allow them to strike a better work-life balance.
More than 43 percent said they had been asked to work overtime hours, while more than 52 percent had worked overtime at night.
The poll showed that 60.3 percent of respondents do not turn off their mobile phones outside of work, and that 86.6 percent handle work-related matters on their phone after work hours and on weekends.
Respondents scored their levels of life happiness and well-being an average of 56.3 points on a 100-point scale, which was higher than the score in last year’s poll and the second-highest of the past five years, with the scores from 2014, 2015, 2016 and last year being 46.2, 47.7, 56.4 and 55.7 points, respectively.
The online yes123 poll, which was conducted from April 11 to Monday last week among job bank members aged 20 and above who were employed, collected 1,266 randomly selected valid samples, and has a margin of error of 2.75 percentage points.
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