As Taiwan’s job market improves, soon-to-be graduates are expecting about a 2.4 percent increase in their average starting salaries from a year earlier, according to the results of a survey released yesterday by online 1111 Job Bank.
The survey found that first-time jobseekers aged 16 or older are anticipating starting monthly wages of NT$33,053, up NT$788, or 2.44 percent, from a similar poll conducted by the job bank a year earlier.
The job bank said the higher anticipated pay came after the local jobless rate for January fell to 3.63 percent, the lowest level since May 2015, when it was 3.62 percent. It was down 0.15 percentage points from a year earlier.
Taiwan’s job market has improved as the local economy has been recovering. Last week, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics upgraded its forecast for Taiwan’s 2018 GDP growth to 2.42 percent, from an estimate of 2.29 percent made in November last year.
In addition to a better economy, 1111 Job Bank vice president Daniel Lee (李大華) said a decision made by the government to raise salaries by 3 percent for civil servants, teachers and military personnel from Jan. 1 also led to higher wage expectations.
According to the survey, 41.7 percent of the respondents said they are expecting starting salaries of between NT$25,000 and NT$30,000, and 34.7 percent said they expect salaries between NT$30,000 and NT$40,000, while 17.6 percent were more upbeat, expecting more than NT$40,000.
The survey shows that 41.3 percent of those polled favor the information technology industry for their first job, 35.3 percent said they have set their sights on the service sector, and 29.9 percent said they want to work in finance.
Judging from the results of the poll, Lee said the popularity of tech innovations, such as mobile devices, cloud technology, the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, has been growing among jobseekers, since these technologies are playing a larger role in daily life and local economic growth.
According to the survey, 15 percent of the respondents said they expect to secure their first jobs before graduation, while 52 percent said they expect to find a job within three months of graduation.
On average, they expect to spend 3.6 months finding their first job, the poll results show.
The survey, conducted from Feb. 12 until Thursday, collected 1,165 valid responses, the job bank said.
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