Job market facing structural change

This article was published by the Taiwan Headlines on April 4, 2006. It reports that Taiwan's industries have been reshaping the structure of their operations in recent years, in order to maintain their presence in the world market. Many domestic manufacturers are working to enhance their operating efficiency while trying to downsize their workforces in order to reduce costs. As a result, Taiwan's industrial sector is expected to see a minimal average employment growth rate of 0.5 percent in the next decade.

Government statistics show that in 2005, Taiwan's industrial sector hired a total of 3.55 million persons, only a slight increase of 20,000 persons from the corresponding figure in 2000. According to the Council for Economic Planning and Development, in the next decade, the number of employees in the industrial sector will not increase significantly, as manufacturers continue to automate and upgrade their production processes in order to turn out products more efficiently. In short, there will be less demand in the future for manufacturing employees.

The Council for Economic Planning and Development also predicts that the number of employees in Taiwan's industrial sector may slowly expand to 3.63 million in 2015. This will be a slight increase of only 80,000 persons from the figure of 3.55 million in 2005.

Meanwhile, in recent years, the number of employees in Taiwan's agricultural sector has also dropped. In 2005, the sector employed a total of 590,000 persons. The figure is expected to drop to 556,000 persons in 2015.

However, the Council for Economic Planning and Development is still optimistic that Taiwan's jobless rate will remain at the 4-percent level in 2015. The main reason for this optimism is that the rapidly developing service sector is expected to create more than one million job opportunities in the next 10 years. The government's strategic promotion of some 12 industries in the service sector will provide the momentum needed to put up the number of employees in the sector. Indeed, the number of employees in the service sector is expected to reach 6.92 million in 2015, which will be a considerable increase of 1.13 million from the figure of 5.79 million in 2005. The average annual growth rate will be about 2.2 percent.

The Council for Economic Planning and Development predicts that the employees in the service sector will account for 62.3 percent of all workers in Taiwan by 2015. The majority of employees in service industries are usually white-collar workers, such as managers, professionals, technicians and office workers. The number of such workers is expected to increase by more than one million, to 5.23 million, in the next 10 years.

It should be noted that many job seekers in Taiwan have gone to China in recent years. Unofficial statics show that the number of Taiwanese applying to work in China increased to nearly 20,000 at the end of 2005, a sharp rise of about 25 percent from the figure of 15,000 in the beginning of that year. Moreover, some 60 percent of the working class in Taiwan have expressed willingness to transfer to China. About 20 percent of them said that they would accept a job in China at the same pay level as their salary in Taiwan.

According to market analysts, China is now not only a global manufacturing base, but also a huge consumer market. The job market in China needs talented workers that can handle jobs in both manufacturing and marketing industries. In the next 10 years, the job market in China is expected to need an estimated 75,000 white-collar with international experience, such as international procurement officials, human resources managers and financial executives.

So far, nearly 46 percent of workers in Taiwan have had business visits to China. The Chinese authorities recently eased restrictions on Taiwanese workers in China. This is expected to attract more Taiwanese job seekers to enter the job market there. Today, among the metropolitan cities in China, Shanghai is most favored by Taiwanese workers, followed by Shenzhen in Guangdong Province. To most Taiwanese workers in China or those who intend to look for a job there, public security, social order and transportation are the main issues that will affect their decision about where to work.