Despite signs that the domestic economy is improving, many employers in Taiwan are more cautious than in the past about hiring workers in the fourth quarter, a survey released yesterday by 1111 Job Bank showed.
The survey showed that 61 percent of the polled employers said they were planning to recruit personnel in the fourth quarter, down 4 percentage points from the same period last year.
Those who plan to hire in the October-December period expected to hire only five employees on average, the lowest level for the fourth quarter in six years, the survey found.
The National Development Council on Sept. 29 reported that the domestic economy flashed a “green light,” signaling stable growth, for the second consecutive month in August.
The Yuanta-Polaris Research Institute (元大寶華), one of Taiwan’s leading economic think tanks, has raised its forecast for the nation’s GDP growth to 1.1 percent for this year from an earlier estimate of a 0.9 percent rise.
Echoing Yuanta-Polaris, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台經院), another major think tank, now also expects that Taiwan’s economy will grow at least 1 percent this year.
However, those positive signs are not translating into more aggressive hiring campaigns for the fourth quarter, 1111 Job Bank vice president Daniel Lee (李大華) said.
Nearly half (46 percent) of employers planning to hire new employees in the current quarter said they needed no more than five newcomers, while nearly one-quarter (23.6 percent) said that they would hire 6 to 10 people and 11.24 percent said they were aiming for 11 to 15 new employees.
Only 3.37 percent of respondents said that they would need more than 50 new employees.
Among the employers with hiring plans, 34.8 percent of them said recruiting new people was a regular practice, 32.6 percent said they needed new people to fill openings created by staff turnover and 15.7 percent said new hires were needed to meet business growth, the survey found.
Lee said employers have grown more cautious about hiring new workers because of controversial legislation that could soon be enacted that would implement a five-day workweek and limit the flexibility of work schedule arrangements.
A 5 percent increase in the minimum wage to NT$21,009 that is to take effect on Jan. 1 next year has also dampened employers’ willingness to hire, Lee said.
In addition, the fourth quarter is a traditional slow season in the local job market, and many employers prefer to wait for the end of the next Lunar New Year holiday, which is to fall in late January, before recruiting new workers.
According to the job bank, the survey was conducted from Sept. 20 to Oct. 2 and collected 612 valid questionnaires. No margin of error was provided.
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