The Taiwanese people have worked too hard, and over 75 percent of the respondents in a survey think that they have excessive workloads, the local media reported yesterday.
According to the results of the survey -- jointly conducted by CHEERS magazine and the udnjob.com Web site between Aug. 7 and 13 -- almost 30 percent of the 1,383 respondents work more than 62 hours a week on average.
Their real working hours are about 20 hours a week more than the regular hours stipulated by the government.
In other words, the respondents work an average of four hours overtime every day.
The results of the survey also show that as many as one fourth of the Taiwanese people often need to work overtime on weekends or holidays.
Some answered that they work longer in order to improve their competitiveness as well as to learn new skills, while others said that they work overtime due to their fear of being laid off.
Meanwhile, the survey challenges the credibility of the government's labor report, which was published by the Cabinet's Council of Labor Affairs last July.
According to the report, only 11.3 percent of Taiwan's enterprises expected their employees to work overtime.
The report concluded that the Taiwanese people work an average of 5.32 hours of overtime a week (about one hour a day) -- which is obviously very far removed from the real situation, according to the survey yesterday.
The survey conductors say that the government has ignored the fact that many Taiwanese people often take their work home, and therefore underestimated the amount of extra hours people work.
According to the survey results, those in the research and development field work the longest hours.
As many as 42.9 percent of them work over 20 hours of overtime a week, and about 20.3 percent of them work more than 30 hours extra a week.
The results of the survey tally with a report published by the International Institute for Management Development last year.
According to the institute's annual World Competitiveness Yearbook, the Taiwanese people work the longest hours in the world, with an average of about 2,282 working hours a year.
This number is much higher than that of other economies analyzed, which work an average of 1,925 hours per year. In other words, the Taiwanese people annually work 357 more hours than other people.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
RSS