A spike in COVID-19 infections appear to have had little impact on the local job market, as the number of job offers reached 1.01 million this month, growing 13 percent from January, a survey by the online 104 Job Bank (104人力銀行) showed yesterday.
The uptrend suggested vibrant hiring activity, as Taiwanese companies are upbeat about business prospects even though domestic cases of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 have exceeded 1,000 per day for the past few days, the online human resources firm said.
The development came after authorities in Taiwan focused on allowing economic activity to proceed with the least interruption, as more than 99 percent of Omicron patients display mild or no symptoms, the job bank said.
Photo courtesy of Kaohsiung Labor Affairs Bureau
The number of companies with job openings soared 30 percent from 40,000 in January to 52,000 this month, it said.
A breakdown by sector showed electronics, software and semiconductor companies with the most job vacancies at 197,000, followed by 165,000 at hospitality service providers and 147,000 at traditional manufacturers, it said.
By occupation, food and beverage attendants, machinery and equipment operators, as well as business salespeople were in high demand, with vacancies of 130,000, 112,000 and 87,000 respectively, it said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker whose clients include Apple Inc and Intel Corp, has lowered its recruitment threshold from top-grade university graduates with master’s or doctorate degrees to candidates from all universities and colleges, it said.
To attract and retain talent, TSMC has reportedly offered a 10 percent pay raise for employees this year, IDC said, citing local Chinese-language media.
Similarly, chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) is hiring new engineers whose wages and perks could approach NT$2 million (US$68,423) a year, it said.
However, monthly wages for low-skilled equipment operators and product packagers fall somewhere between NT$31,000 and NT$35,000 at semiconductor manufacturing facilities, the job bank said.
Those willing to work graveyard shifts might earn an extra 30 to 50 percent, it said, but added that relatively few people are willing to work graveyard shifts for health and family reasons.
Hotels, restaurants and entertainment facilities have high turnover rates and are often in need of employees, it found.
Many hospitality facilities have not yet returned to business levels prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, despite a lingering boom in domestic tourism, it said.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS