Nearly 50 percent of Taiwanese firms surveyed plan to raise employee wages in the second half of this year as business sentiment improves, online job bank yes123 (yes123人力銀行) said last week.
Forty-nine percent of companies are considering raising wages, up from 44.8 percent in a similar poll last year to a four-year high, the job bank said in a survey released on Wednesday last week.
It was also up from 18.5 percent in a similar survey conducted in 2021.
Photo courtesy of the New Taipei City Labor Affairs Department
The job bank attributed the increase to new product launches by global tech companies that could benefit Taiwanese firms in their global supply chains.
Meanwhile, about 39 percent of companies said they are planning to issue bonuses in the second half, up from 36.3 percent in a similar poll last year and compared with 25.3 percent in the 2021 poll, the job bank said.
The results of the survey, conducted from May 25 to June 8, reflect improved sentiment among companies, as 35.1 percent of the respondents expressed optimism about the economy in the third quarter, outnumbering the 15 percent with negative views, the report said, while 49.9 percent held neutral outlooks.
“The nation’s economic downturn is nearing its bottom and the economy would start to come out of the woods next quarter,” yes123 spokesman Bingo Yang (楊宗斌) said.
A global recovery would brighten wage prospects and improve the domestic economy, if hospitality and tourism sectors can resolve their labor shortages, he said.
Taiwan’s GDP contracted 2.87 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier and the economy might register small growth from the second quarter onward, with full-year growth estimated to be 2.04 percent this year, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said last month.
The survey found that employees are less optimistic about the economy, as 57.8 percent hold neutral views, 22.1 percent expect things to improve and the remaining 20.1 percent are looking at worsening conditions.
The survey also found that 92.4 percent of firms plan to start hiring campaigns in the third quarter, up from 91.2 percent in the second quarter, with the hospitality, leisure and tourism industry showing the most interest in recruitment.
Companies in the retail, wholesale and trading businesses, as well as in transportation, warehousing, information technology, finance and insurance, also showed strong interest in hiring next quarter due to labor shortages, it said.
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