The first trend is a rapidly increasing need for part-time jobs. According to the report, approximately 30 percent of salaried people in Taiwan had more than one part-time job, while 80 percent of those who did not have part-time jobs intended to get one. This, 104 Corp. founder Rocky Yang noted, is primarily due to an increasing trend among enterprises to outsource jobs as a means of lowering costs.
The second trend is toward companies offering more professional outsourced jobs next year, the report stated, adding that more outsourced jobs with higher levels of professionalism, including white-collar and knowledge-intensive work, will be available.
The report also forecast an increase in the number of upper-level Taiwanese employees--such as managers and directors--moving to China to work.
A new trend in the way salaries are negotiated was also listed. The report stated that, with an increasing scarcity of competent talent, such employees will be better placed to negotiate with their employers on salary.
As enterprises become more aware of the link between productivity and a sense of contentment among employees, they will outsource their welfare programs to professional enterprises in an effort to raise the level of satisfaction among their employees, the report stated, listing this as the fifth trend.
Employees will more frequently recommend acquaintances for jobs within the company for which they work. The 104 Web site, in particular, is seen as a platform from which its 3.5 million Web site users can recommend employees to enterprises in exchange for certain incentives.
An increased need for salespeople was forecast as the seventh trend for the coming year. According to a survey cited in the report, there are 3.1 sales jobs on offer for each person applying, and 2.2 sales manager positions for each manager applying. Both numbers, the report said, indicated that job offers of this kind will remain in relatively adequate supply next year.
The eighth trend is a continual shortage of technicians, the report stated, projecting that the demand for professional technicians in the communication, information and engineering sectors will continue to outstrip supply.
The report also forecast the emergence of a category of workers which it called "gray-collar" workers, meaning that with specific knowledge in certain sectors, blue-collar workers will move toward providing more specialized skills and consulting services.
The report concluded that a large number of tutors with a range of specialties would be needed, particularly by adult workers who prefer to arrange their own schedules to pursue customized courses in areas of interest such as language, music, computer, exercise and dance.