Taiwan’s job market looks positive for 1Q 2015

2014-12-11

Taiwan’s Employment Outlook is expected to maintain upward momentum and rise to 43 percent in 1Q 2015 on the wave of a sunny global economic forecast, according to the Manpower Employment Outlook released Dec. 9 by ManpowerGroup Taiwan.

The figure, the strongest forecast since the survey’s launch in 2005, is up 3 percentage points quarter-over-quarter and 5 percentage points from a year ago. It marks the second best result both in terms of the world and the Asia-Pacific region, according to Allen Ng, the permanent operations manager of the Taipei firm.

Of the 1,118 local businesses interviewed, 40 percent intended to boost hiring, while 53 percent foresaw no change and 3 percent planned to decrease their staff size.

The report also indicated that Taiwan’s finance, insurance and real estate sectors showed the most optimistic hiring intention at 50 percent, followed by services at 47 percent and manufacturing at 39 percent.

Compared with 4Q this year, the most notable improvement of 6 percentage points were reported in both the services and the transportation and utilities sectors, while prospects weakened by 5 percentage points in mining and construction.

Ng said employers in the finance sector have become emboldened to elevate staff levels since 4Q 2013, when the ROC government helped spur the sector’s development in mainland China and other Asia markets by relaxing relevant rules and regulations.

The executive also said job seekers in the services sector will benefit from the swelling number of tourists and newly opened hotels.

Moreover, the demand partially stems from a talent shortage owing to competitors in mainland China recruiting many mid- to high-level managers from Taiwan, he added.

Globally speaking, the most enthusiastic hiring intentions were reported in India, Taiwan and New Zealand, in that order, while the weakest hiring confidence with negative outlooks were found in Finland, Holland, Italy and Switzerland.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=225057&CtNode=413)