Third-quarter employment forecasts in the energy and utilities sectors hit a new low: survey

Taipei, June 15 (CNA) Third-quarter employment prospects in Taiwan’s energy and utilities sector have dropped to a new low as costs continue to rise, according to the latest survey by consulting firm ManpowerGroup.

Taiwan’s overall net employment prospects rate in the third quarter, however, rose to 18 percent from 10 percent in the second quarter after seasonal adjustments and was also higher than the 15 percent recorded in the third quarter of 2023, the consultancy said, citing a survey.

The ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook survey, which reflects employer confidence in hiring, calculates the net employment rate by subtracting the percentage of employers expecting their workforce to decline from the percentage expecting it to increase.

The survey found that 39 percent of 630 employers in Taiwan surveyed in May expect to hire more people in the third quarter, while 21 percent expect to cut jobs and 39 percent say they will leave the workforce unchanged.

According to ManpowerGroup, this resulted in a third-quarter net employment prospects index of 18 percent both before and after seasonal adjustments.

The study found that in the energy and utilities sector, net employment prospects in the third quarter fell to minus 64 percent, down 91 percentage points from 27 percent in the second quarter.

Lai Yi-wen (賴怡文), executive partner at ManpowerGroup, said in a statement that in the face of rising costs, wind energy developers seemed less willing to invest in Taiwan, which impacted the supply chain at a time when no major recruitment campaigns are planned.

According to ManpowerGroup, the energy and utilities sector had the lowest employment prospects among the nine major business sectors in Taiwan.

Meanwhile, the healthcare and life sciences sector had the best third-quarter employment prospects among nine sectors, with the net employment rate increasing 23 percentage points from the quarter earlier to 43 percent, the survey showed.

Lai said the growth came as hospitals and other healthcare providers looked to expand their talent pools to accelerate the development of smart healthcare in Taiwan’s aging society.

Many healthcare providers were also looking to add workers to address looming long-term labor shortages, and large pharmacy chains also increased labor needs to support increased expansion efforts, Lai said.

The study found that the transportation, logistics and automotive sector recorded the second-highest net employment prospects rate in the third quarter at 41 percent, up slightly from 40 percent in the second quarter.

Employment forecasts for specific industries deteriorated in the third quarter, but this was offset by rising airline demand for flight staff amid a boom in the travel industry.

In third place was the industrials and materials sector, whose third-quarter net job prospects index was 31 percent, up 20 percentage points from the quarter earlier, according to ManpowerGroup.

Improving employment prospects in the sector reflect strong demand for new construction by high-tech companies, expansion of social housing and more reconstruction projects after the massive earthquake that hit Hualien in early April, Lai said.

Among the seven economies covered by ManpowerGroup’s Asia-Pacific study, India had the highest net employment prospects in the third quarter at 30 percent, followed by China (28 percent), Singapore (20 percent) and Taiwan (18 percent), while Hong Kong was in the very bottom with 8%.

ManpowerGroup said that of the 42 economies surveyed globally, a total of 10 reported expected job growth in the third quarter, while 32 were expected to see job cuts, according to the study.