White-collar workers fear for jobs

By Ruby Ying, The China Post, Thursday 5 July 2001, 8:00 AM

A survey conducted by the Chinese-language Business Weekly revealed that 37.8 percent of Taiwan's white-collar workers were plagued by thoughts that they would be made unemployed. 64.7 percent of the respondent even said they were worried that the next generation would have to face lower incomes.

According to Business Weekly, the survey was carried out among the island's mid- and high-level managers, entrepreneurs, and professional workers who are above 30 years old. The subjects of the survey were generally considered among the least affected by the recent economic slowdown.

Among the four categories of subjects, high-level managers showed the greatest concern about unemployment - 46.6 percent of them expressed worries of being jobless. 50.8 percent of the surveyed white-collar workers believed they would see changes in their job in the near future, with 13.2 percent worried that they would be sacked or lose their current job.

What worried the white-collar workers most, the survey showed, was the deteriorating economy. 43.3 percent of the subjects did not believe that the economy would pick up. Only 33.3 percent of the respondents were confident that the local economy would return to prosperity soon.

The survey suggested that the social elite was worried about the unemployment issue because they were depressed about the island's bleak economic and political outlook and the massive exodus of local enterprises.

Among the respondents who were worried about losing their jobs, 45.4 percent pointed to business and factory closures as the main reason for the dull domestic economy, while 41.9 percent attributed the economic slowdown to the outflow of Taiwan companies.

Another 6.6 percent said their counterparts from mainland China eroded their competitiveness on the job market and thus reduced the number of jobs available to local talent.