COST OF LIVING/Young workers in Taiwan earn US$1,120 per month: MOL

Taipei, March 29 (CNA) Young workers in Taiwan earned an average monthly wage of NT$34,019 (US$1,120) in 2022, but a third of them were planning to switch jobs because of dissatisfaction with their pay and benefits, a Ministry of Labor survey has found.

The average wage of NT$34,019 was up 5.4 percent from 2020 and up 24 percent from the 2012 average, according to the survey targeted at employed individuals aged between 15 and 29.

Excluding part-time student workers, non-student young workers earned an average monthly wage of NT$34,918, but a third of them hoped to change jobs mainly due to "salary and benefits that did not meet expectations" and "a lack of career prospects," the survey found.

Some 65.3 percent of non-student young workers interviewed said they had received two pay hikes on their current jobs, primarily because of their "good performance" and "company policy," according to the survey.

Young workers, excluding student part-timers, said they had an average of 2.1 jobs after joining the workforce at an average age of 21.4, with 42.6 percent saying they have never changed jobs. Some 3.2 percent said they had switched jobs five times.

Working overseas?

While 76.8 percent of Taiwan's young workers had no plans to work overseas, the remaining 23.2 percent said they were interested in getting hired in the United States, Canada, Australia/New Zealand, Europe and Northeast Asia.

Around 23.5 percent of young female workers expressed an interest in working abroad, slightly higher than 22.7 percent of young male workers, the survey showed.

The results of the survey released Wednesday were based on 4,029 valid samples collected in October and November 2022 from employed individuals aged between 15 and 29.

According to a human resources study by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, there were 2.078 million young workers in Taiwan in 2022, down by 116,000 from 10 years ago.

The agency attributed the fall to Taiwan's declining birth rates and the spread of higher education.

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