Only 138,000 fresh graduates entered the workforce last year, 9,000 fewer than the previous year — or a 6.3 percent year-on-year decline — and about 32,000 less than five years ago, Ministry of Labor data released yesterday showed.
Over the past five years, the figures have steadily declined: to 170,000 in 2021, 169,000 in 2022, 156,000 in 2023, 147,000 in 2024 and 138,000 last year.
The ministry said the decline in first-time job seekers is mainly due to a shrinking youth population, which has led to fewer graduates.
Photo: Chen Yi-kuan, Taipei Times
Over the past five years, there has been a clear trend of fresh graduates seeking employment in “large enterprises,” a category that includes major companies as well as public institutions such as government agencies and schools, rather than small and medium-sized enterprises, the data showed.
Last year, 52.1 percent of fresh graduates worked in large enterprises, up 3 percentage points from the previous year, while only 47.9 percent were employed in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), it showed.
That was a reversal of patterns, as SMEs had previously accounted for a larger share of employment than large companies, the ministry said.
Large firms — leveraging advantages in salaries, benefits and career development opportunities — are attracting most of the talent, leading to a concentration of job seekers in big enterprises, it said.
SMEs are likely to face greater recruitment pressures as the decline in birthrate continues, it added.
Meanwhile, a ministry survey last year on full-time starting salaries for first-time workers released yesterday showed that about 91.9 percent of new entrants hold a university degree or higher, while 21.5 percent hold a postgraduate degree.
Compared with 2024, the share of postgraduate degree holders increased by 2 percentage points, while the share of university graduates declined by 1.3 percentage points, the survey showed.
The average starting salary for fresh graduates was NT$39,000, an increase of NT$2,000 (or 5.4 percent) from 2024, the poll found.
The average starting salary was NT$31,000 for vocational high school graduates, NT$36,000 for university graduates and NT$53,000 for those with postgraduate degrees, the survey showed.
Among university graduates, the highest average starting salary was in the healthcare and social work services sector at NT$42,000; followed by finance and insurance at NT$39,000, it found.
For postgraduate degree holders, the highest starting salaries were in the publishing, audiovisual, and information and communications technology (ICT) industries at NT$61,000, with manufacturing coming in second at NT$60,000, the survey showed.
University graduates who studied fields related to medicine, health and social welfare had the highest starting salary at NT$42,000, followed by those in education at NT$40,000, the survey found.
Among people with a postgraduate degree, those related to the ICT industry earned the highest at NT$60,000, followed by those with degrees in engineering, manufacturing and construction at NT$59,000, it showed.
The most preferred industries among fresh graduates were manufacturing (20.8 percent), wholesale and retail (16.1 percent), and healthcare and social work services (12.3 percent), the survey showed.
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