Government jobs being outsourced more frequently

This article was published by the Taiwan Headlines on July 31, 2006. It reports that according to a recent survey conducted by the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA), it has become common among Taiwan's government agencies to outsource job openings.

Results of the survey showed that more than 41 percent of the surveyed government divisions outsourced jobs in 2005, while 7.3 percent of the surveyed private sector firms used workers from outside the companies. Specifically, cleaning staff accounted for about 30 percent and machine handlers accounted for about 26 percent of the jobs outsourced by government departments in 2005.

According to the CLA, 74.3 percent of the surveyed government agencies outsourced work in 2005 because of cutbacks in personnel quotas and management expenses. For example, nearly 43 percent of the surveyed government agencies did not hire employees directly, because if they outsourced the process to a human resources firm, then they could have more flexibility and later relocate personnel according to their needs.

Results of the survey also showed that in 2005, there was an overall increase in the number of companies that outsourced work. The percentage went from 6.6 percent in a previous poll in 2004, to 7.9 percent in the current survey. Interestingly, there appears to be a tendency for companies with more employees to use more outside workers.

According to results of the survey, the finance and insurance industries, as well as the water and electricity and health care segments, were the major industries that outsourced job opportunities in 2005.

According to results of the survey, most of the outsourced jobs in private businesses in 2005 included administrative assistants, machine handlers, cleaning personnel and call center employees. The average period of work for outsourced jobs ranged from 7 months to 18 months.

In related news, according to a recent article published by Taiwan's Chinatimes Weekly, at least 100,000 people work in outsourced jobs every year, excluding temporary employees. Most of the workers are between 25 and 30 years old.

According to the article, high-tech companies in Taiwan, such as TSMC and IBM, outsource 5 percent to 5 percent of job openings.