Atypical worker numbers decline

DISPATCH POSITIONS DOWN: DGBAS data showed that among atypical workers, 7.33 percent wanted a full-time job, down 1.09 percentage points from last year

The proportion of atypical workers compared with overall employment in Taiwan this year fell to a 14-year low, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said on Friday.

Taiwan this year had 793,000 atypical workers — part-time workers and those on temporary and “dispatch” contracts — the DGBAS said, citing a survey conducted in May.

That was 6,000, or 0.67 percent, less than the number last year, it said.

Men work on a street in Taipei yesterday.

Photo: CNA

Atypical workers accounted for 6.82 percent of the total, who numbered 11.63 million, down by 1,000 from October last year, it said, adding that the ratio was the lowest since 2013.

Census Department Deputy Director Tan Wen-ling (譚文玲) said the decline in the proportion of atypical workers reflected a lower number of temporary and “dispatch” jobs, although the number of part-time workers increased.

Atypical jobs have been perceived as being done by economically disadvantaged people, but the latest survey found that 34.89 percent of atypical workers took on such jobs because of the “special characteristics of the job category,” Tan said, adding that 22.97 percent “preferred this type of employment pattern over others.”

Among atypical workers, 58,000 — or 7.33 percent, wanted a full-time job, down 1.09 percentage points from a year earlier, the survey showed.

The labor participation rate of women aged 15 or older was 52.33 percent, up 1.67 percentage points from 10 years earlier, it showed.

The labor participation ratio among married women aged 15 to 49 was 79.33 percent this year, up 9.95 percentage points from a decade earlier, it showed.

Within that group, those without children had a labor participation rate of 85.44 percent, up 7.03 percentage points from 10 years earlier, while those with children had a labor participation rate of 78.19 percent, up 9.94 percentage points, the survey showed.