TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Though work satisfaction rose last year to 72.5%, 13.5% of employees mentioned they had not received any extra pay for working overtime, the Ministry of Labor (MOL) said in a survey published Wednesday (Feb. 23).

The MOL received 4,130 valid responses from Taiwanese workers to questions about job satisfaction, working environment, and career planning in 2021, CNA reported.

The proportion of employees satisfied with their job rose 1.3%, reaching 72.5%, with 25% expressing average satisfaction and 2% responding they were not satisfied.

Almost half of workers, or 46.3%, said they had worked overtime during the past year, a rise of 2.5% compared to 2020. The average overtime amounted to 14.9 hours per month, with the science and technology service sector leading the way, as 57.7% of its employees reporting extra hours on the job. The finance and insurance sector saw 55.3% of its staff working overtime, and the publishing, movie, music and information technology sector 54.3%.

With regard to labor law violations, 13.5% of workers participating in the survey had not received extra pay or compensation leave in return for the extra hours they put in, the MOL survey found. Up to 31.4% of people working in the education sector found their overtime had not been rewarded, followed by 25.5% in the publishing, movie, music, and IT sector, and 22.9% in the financial and insurance sector.

A total of 4.2% of survey respondents said they had been working up to an additional 46 hours per month, though not every month.