The number of temp workers who are dispatched by employment agencies reached 33,000 people last month, up 151.8 percent from a year ago, the 104 Job Bank said in a report yesterday.
The online manpower agency said financial, insurance, electronics and manufacturing sectors were among local industries offering the most temporary jobs.
“With the economic recovery picking up momentum demand for temp workers among enterprises has increased markedly,” Shelly Wu (吳麗雪), the job bank’s operations officer, said in the report.
Nearly 70 percent of respondents said temporary hiring was not only more flexible, but it also increases corporate competitiveness, Wu said.
The survey, which polled 1,016 people between Jan. 28 and 29, showed that 34 percent of enterprises said they hired temp workers to reduce human resource costs while 31 percent said they did so as a result of seasonal factors.
Wu said that more and more people were starting to accept temp positions as the number of jobseekers who were willing to accept positions on a temporary contract had increased by 40 percent in the past three years.
The Council of Labor Affairs recently drafted amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) stating that temps may not exceed more than 10 percent of a company’s payroll and that a company cannot choose temps dispatched by employment agencies.
More than 30 percent of corporations said they would continue to hire employees on a temporary basis, although nearly 40 percent did not express an opinion on the matter, the report said.
Wu said that white-collar temporary hiring was a growing trend and some temps are paid at an even higher wage than regular salaried workers.
“For instance, some companies pay more than NT$60,000 a month to recruit software engineers or more than NT$50,000 a month to hire financial professionals on a temporary basis,” she said.
TECH TITANS: Amazon’s latest chip joins Google in competing for the 90 percent market share held by Nvidia, which claims it is ‘a generation ahead of the industry’ Amazon Web Services (AWS) on Tuesday launched its in-house-built Trainium3 artificial intelligence (AI) chip, marking a significant push to compete with Nvidia Corp in the lucrative market for AI computing power. The move intensifies competition in the AI chip market, where Nvidia dominates with an estimated 80 to 90 percent market share for products used in training large language models that power the likes of ChatGPT. Google last week caused tremors in the industry when it was reported that Facebook-parent Meta Platforms Inc would employ Google AI chips in data centers, signaling new competition for Nvidia. This followed the release last month of
INSULATED: The company said it is less exposed to global complications, as it has built a strong footprint worldwide, and has multiple sources of rare earths and raw minerals Merck Group yesterday said it would ramp up production next year at its new flagship facility in Kaohsiung’s Lujhu District (路竹) to satisfy growing demand for advanced semiconductor materials and specialty gases, and to address supply resilience issues amid mounting geopolitical risks. Merck made the remarks during a news conference before the inauguration of its 500 million euros (US$582.1 million) facility, which is also to supply other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, it said. Merck executive board deputy chair and electronics CEO Kai Beckmann told reporters the company adopted a “local-for-local” strategy about seven years ago to address the cycle time of
Two companies wholly owned by the daughter of the founder of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Monday reported to the Taiwan Stock Exchange that they would dispose of all of the Hon Hai shares they hold. In filings with the exchange, Hong Wei Investment Co (鋐維) said it would sell the 2.771 million Hon Hai shares it holds and Frontier Investment Corp (承鋒投資) said it would sell its 2.409 million Hon Hai shares from tomorrow until Jan. 3 next year. The two companies are wholly owned and chaired by Shirley Gou (郭曉玲), the eldest daughter of Hon Hai founder Terry
RIDING THE WAVE: The race to build AI infrastructure has lifted the valuations of top memory makers, such as Micron, amid dwindling inventories and supply challenges Micron Technology Inc is to spend ￥1.5 trillion (US$9.6 billion) to build a plant in western Japan to make memory chips for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, the Nikkei reported on Saturday. The move comes as Micron seeks to diversify advanced chip production outside of Taiwan, the Nikkei article said, citing people familiar with the matter. The new factory will manufacture high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component for working with AI processors such as those made by Nvidia Corp, the report said. Micron would build the facility within the compound of its Hiroshima plant, starting in May next year, with plans to launch
RSS