The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) last week released the latest job vacancy data in Taiwan, which highlighted how many job openings firms had yet to be filled at the end of August last year. The data also revealed how the vacant positions were closely related to the business climate that industrial and services sectors faced at the time.
The DGBAS collects data on job vacancies at the end of February, May, August and November every year. The number of job vacancies includes recruits for expanding operations and additional production lines as well as for openings related to quitting, layoffs and retirement. However, vacant positions due to a recruitment freeze, internal recruitment and expatriate vacancies are excluded.
At the end of August last year, there were 248,036 job openings in the nation’s 17 major industries — such as manufacturing, information technology, electricity and gas supply, construction, wholesale and retail trade, transportation, accommodation and food services, financial and insurance services, real-estate, and support services. The number was the highest for the same period in three years, up 6,208 from the end of May and an increase of 3,683 from a year earlier, DGBAS data showed.
The manufacturing industry had the most job vacancies at 87,456, up 12,117 from a year earlier, due to rising labor demand related to electronic components, information technology products and emerging applications, the agency said.
Meanwhile, the wholesale and retail trade sector saw vacancies drop by 2,179 year-on-year to 39,684, the construction industry posted 4,779 fewer job openings at 15,345, and vacancies in accommodation and food services declined by 2,721 to 20,741, it added.
In terms of the job vacancy rate, which refers to the number of job openings as a percentage of employment plus job openings over a specific period, the DGBAS reported an overall job vacancy rate of 2.84 percent at the end of August, which was also the highest for the same period in three years, with the electricity and gas supply industry topping others at a rate of 4.72 percent, followed by the computer, electronics and optical products industry at 4.1 percent, and accommodation and food services at 3.7 percent.
The vacancy rate in the real-estate industry was 2.92 percent, a decrease of 0.65 percentage points from the same period last year and reaching a new low for the past 18 years, which reflected a cooling housing market due to the central bank’s selective credit control measures and resulted in a contraction in personnel demand.
As the central bank adopted a new wave of selective credit controls in September last year, how much impact its move would have on the industry’s workforce demand deserves further attention.
Observing the job vacancy rate regularly is important, because the data suggest the situation of labor demand, workforce management and the attractiveness of the job opportunities. If the rate stays high for long, it means that firms would need to find new ways to expand the workforce through attracting talent from unconventional pools, recruiting workers from abroad, offering more flexible work, encouraging people to work beyond standard retirement ages, and adopting automation or other practices to unlock productivity. In contrast, if the rate continues to remain low, it could imply that substantial market demand exists for the advertised job openings.
Overall, job vacancy rates in different industries vary and are tied to their seasonal business demand. Because the cost of vacancies is dependent on a range of factors, there is no universal formula for calculating it. However, it is worth mentioning that for firms, filling vacant positions is frequently cheaper than paying overtime, and is more conducive to enhancing performance and productivity, and maintaining customer satisfaction.
The gutting of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) by US President Donald Trump’s administration poses a serious threat to the global voice of freedom, particularly for those living under authoritarian regimes such as China. The US — hailed as the model of liberal democracy — has the moral responsibility to uphold the values it champions. In undermining these institutions, the US risks diminishing its “soft power,” a pivotal pillar of its global influence. VOA Tibetan and RFA Tibetan played an enormous role in promoting the strong image of the US in and outside Tibet. On VOA Tibetan,
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), the leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), caused a national outrage and drew diplomatic condemnation on Tuesday after he arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office dressed in a Nazi uniform. Sung performed a Nazi salute and carried a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as he arrived to be questioned over allegations of signature forgery in the recall petition. The KMT’s response to the incident has shown a striking lack of contrition and decency. Rather than apologizing and distancing itself from Sung’s actions,
US President Trump weighed into the state of America’s semiconductor manufacturing when he declared, “They [Taiwan] stole it from us. They took it from us, and I don’t blame them. I give them credit.” At a prior White House event President Trump hosted TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), head of the world’s largest and most advanced chip manufacturer, to announce a commitment to invest US$100 billion in America. The president then shifted his previously critical rhetoric on Taiwan and put off tariffs on its chips. Now we learn that the Trump Administration is conducting a “trade investigation” on semiconductors which
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then
RSS