TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Nearly 90 percent of salary employees in Taiwan wish to work aboard after Lunar New Year, the highest since 2014, according to a survey by online job bank yes123.
Around 91.8 percent of respondents said they planned to change jobs after the holiday and among them, 87.8 percent expressed an interest in working overseas, reported Liberty Times. Laborers in Taiwan usually wait until after Lunar New Year, when they receive their year-end bonus, before job hopping.
Those interested in seeking employment abroad expect a pay raise of 111.6 percent, on average. The top six areas where they prefer to locate are Japan, the U.S., ASEAN countries, Australia and New Zealand, Hong Kong and Macau, and Europe.
China, which used to be the favorite place to work among Taiwanese, in the 2014 survey, was edged out of the top three in 2016. This year it was in seventh place.
Company spokesperson Yang Tsung-bin (楊宗斌) observed wage stagnation has continued to reduce the appeal to stay in the local job market. China’s allure has dwindled due to political and cultural shocks, and also as a result of a supply chain shift to countries like Vietnam and Indonesia.
The survey was conducted between Dec. 25 and Jan. 6 and 1,236 valid questionnaires were collected. It had a confidence level of 95 percent, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.79 percentage points.