Labor force in Taiwan shows signs of aging

•Publication Date：05/02/2012
•Source： Taiwan Today

Workers aged 45 and older accounted for 36.15 percent of Taiwan’s over-15 labor force in 2011, up from 28.19 percent 10 years earlier, according to the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics May 1.

The DGBAS attributed the increase mainly to Taiwan’s graying population. Last year, those aged 45 and above made up 46.14 percent of the 15-and-over population, compared to 37.19 percent in 2001, an agency survey revealed.

By comparison, Japan’s over-45 working population has risen to 49 percent of the country’s total workforce aged 15 years and above, the DGBAS noted.

In Taiwan, the unemployment rate for those aged 45 years and older stood at 2.14 percent last year, or about the same level as a decade ago, with the main reasons being business downsizing or closures, at 52.88 percent of the total.

For the 15-24 and 25-44 age groups, job dissatisfaction was cited as the primary reason for being unemployed, at 70.08 percent and 48.68 percent, respectively, of the unemployed in these groups.

The average period of unemployment among workers aged over 45 stood at 29.36 weeks last year, more than 2.42 weeks longer than for the overall labor force, indicating that older workers face a more difficult time finding a new job, the DGBAS said.

According to the survey, 72.98 percent of workers in this age group have prepared financially for their retirement, with 29.58 percent planning to live off their and their spouse’s pensions, 28.21 percent on labor insurance payments, 9.81 percent on support from their children, 6.48 percent on government subsidies, 3.88 percent on their investment earnings, and 0.16 percent on other sources of income.