Study Aims

1. Contemporary China Strategic Research Theme Symposium Series &The 60th Anniversary Symposium Series for Department of Social Work and Social Administration The University of Hong Kong The Impact of the Global Economic Crisis on Social Development: Social Policy Responses in Greater ChinaNovember 12-13, 2009Financial Tsunami and the Rise and Fall of Atypical Employment and Job Satisfaction in Taiwan Bih-Hearn Virginia Lee, Professor, Graduate Institute of National Development, College of Social Science, and Director of Population and Gender Studies Center, National Taiwan University (lbh@ntu.edu.tw) Lih-Rong Lillian Wang, Professor, Department of Social Work, and Director of Social Policy Research Center, College of Social Science, National Taiwan University (wanglr@ntu.edu.tw)

2. Study Aims • To investigate how much the Taiwan labour market, especially her atypical employment, has been affected by the current global financial crisis. • To examine if there is a significant difference among respondents in the job satisfaction before and after Financial Tsunami.

3. Literatures and Background • The problems of atypical employment and job satisfaction • How global, regional and specific countries’ economies and employment have been affected by this 2008 Financial Tsunami

4. Types of Atypical Employment • Part-time work • Fixed term employment • Temporary and agency work • New forms of self employment, including the “Me, Inc.” programme

5. Spain and the Netherlands Compared • In Spain the increase of flexible employment was largely due to the increase of temporary employment. • Whereas in the Netherlands it was due to the increase of part-time employment, mainly for females, but that entails specific career penalties for female workers.

6. Issues of Atypical Employment • employment insecurity • good or bad jobs? • bridges or traps?

7. The UK and Nordic Countries Compared • In UK temporary workers have lower levels of job satisfaction, receive less training and are less well-paid. • In UK Fixed-term contracts are a stepping stone to permanent work. • In Nordic countries part-time work is a bridge rather than a trap in the labour market.

8. Specificity of the Netherlands (1)

9. Specificity of the Netherlands (2) • The Netherlands has the highest share of atypical to total employment, being 36.1% in 2008. She has high level of social protection, and the lowest level of employment protection, and highest level of labour flexibility, among the European continental countries.

10. The UK and the EU Directive for Part-time Workers • The UK adopted the Prevention of Less Favorable Treatment rules for part-time workers in 2000 in accordance with the EU directive. • This legislation mandated the same hourly rates of pay and the same entitlements to pensions, leave, sick pay, and training on a pro rata basis as for full-time workers.

11. The Asian Sub-regional Pattern • India and Sri Lanka: Employers’ flexibility in using workers No employment security for workers • China and South Korea: Reduce restrictions on retrenchment Have unemployment insurance and active measures • Singapore and Malaysia: Flexibility with strong active policies Low security in terms of employment protection and passive measures

12. Impacts of Global Financial Crisis on Atypical Work • The world economic crisis has rapidly become also a global job crisis. • Evidence of past crises indicates that, even after economic growth returns, employment only recovers to pre-crisis levels with a lag of four to five years.

13. Impacts of Global Financial Crisis on Atypical Work • OECD suggests a shift from the “work-first” approach to a “train-first” approach. • The global economic crisis is accelerating structural adjustments. • To foster skill formation and training can assure workers be well-equipped with the appropriate skills for emerging jobs.

14. The Dutch Case Revisited • Represents how macro institutional arrangements can alleviate the negative impacts of financial tsunami • Now in the time of economic crisis still maintains higher employment rate and the lowest unemployment rate (3.3% in June 2009) compared to other countries in the world

15. Impacts of Global Financial Crisis on Asian Atypical Work Among the Asian four little tigers • Taiwan experienced the deepest economic downturn in the Q2 2009, being -7.54%, compared to HK being -3.8%, Singapore -3.50%, and South Korea -2.5% • Taiwan has record high unemployment rate 6.13% in August 2009, compared to South Korea being 3.8% in the same month.

16. The Case of Taiwan • Many full-timers were forced to shift to be part-timers. • The proportion of part-timers to total employed persons reached its peak in January 2009, being 17.19%, and since then it began to decrease to 10.71% in September 2009. • The real average income during January-July 2009 decreases by 6.5% compared to that of the same period 2008, this income equivalent to the level of thirteen years ago.

17. Research Framework

18. Research Findings General tests of Chi-Square and Compare Means • There is mean different of job satisfaction between male and female. Males in average tend to have higher job satisfaction than females. • Samples with high educational level are more likely to engage themselves in atypical works, being 46.9%, than those with middle educational level, being 38.8%, and those with low educational level, being 14.3%.

19. Research Findings General tests of Chi-Square and Compare Means • There is mean different of monthly income among three groups by education. People with higher educational level in average tend to have better monthly income. • There is significant mean different of job satisfaction among three groups by education. People with higher educational level tend to have higher job satisfaction in average.

20. Research Findings General tests of Chi-Square and Compare Means • There is mean different of monthly income between typical worker and atypical worker. The typical workers in average tend to earn more monthly income (NTD 39,764) than atypical workers (NTD 17,940). • There is mean different of job satisfaction between typical worker and atypical worker. Typical workers tend to have higher job satisfaction, with mean score 3.22 among the full score 5, than atypical workers, with mean score 3.04.

21. Research Findings General tests of Chi-Square and Compare Means • There is a significant relation between monthly income and job satisfaction. Workers with higher monthly income tend to have higher job satisfaction than those with lower monthly income.

22. Research Findings Path Analysis for Research Framework Path Model 1: for Job Satisfaction

23. Research Findings Path Analysis for Research Framework • Though the variable of type of work can not be explained effectively by gender and educational year, it plays an important role to influence monthly income. • The variable of monthly income can be explained by type of work and it plays a key role to influence job satisfaction. The variable of monthly income can be also explained effectively and directly by gender, and by educational year. • The dependent variable of job satisfaction can be effectively explained by monthly income and it can be effectively and directly explained by type of work, educational year and gender.

24. Research Findings Path Analysis for Research Framework

25. Research Findings Path Analysis for Research Framework • monthly income is the most important variable in explaining the variable of job satisfaction, while education the second and type of work the third. • Gender directly influences monthly income, but gender hardly indirectly influences job satisfaction through affecting type of work.

26. Research Findings Path Analysis for Research Framework Path Model 2: for Gap of Job Satisfaction (GoJS) before and after Financial Tsunami

27. Research Findings Path Analysis for Research Framework • There is a significant difference among respondents in the job satisfaction before and after Financial Tsunami. • Among the four variables, gender is the most important variable that influences gap of job satisfaction (GoJS), and type of work (Tow) the second.

28. Research Findings Path Analysis for Research Framework

29. Research Findings Path Analysis for Research Framework • The variable of gender has the highest effects on GoJS among other variables. It means under the impacts of Financial Tsunami the gap of females’ job satisfaction is much larger than that the gap of males’ job satisfaction. • Type of work has the second highest effect on the GoJS among other variables. It means under the impacts of Financial Tsunami the gap of atypical workers’ job satisfaction is much larger than the gap of typical workers’ job satisfaction.

30. Conclusion and Social Policy Implications • Under the impacts of current Financial Tsunami atypical workers, and female workers, in Taiwan have been facing unstable employment, or low monthly income and job satisfaction situations, and most of them are excluded from any employment-related social protection. • It is required for the state to provide with more employment protection and social protection for atypical workers, and female workers too, than before to alleviate their problems of vulnerable employment, working poverty and decreasing job satisfaction in Taiwan.

31. Conclusion and Social Policy Implications • This paper attempts to link macro-institutional arrangements to individual factors in understanding and explaining atypical employment and job satisfaction in Taiwan. • However, the research limitation of this study lies on the scores of R square in the multiple regression models are quite low, maybe due to such potential individual factors as work-life balance, harmonious relationship with colleagues, enterprise welfare, and commuting distance between home and workplace that are not included in our survey at all.

32. Conclusion and Social Policy Implications • The job satisfaction of atypical and typical workers reflects not only personal feeling to their own jobs, but the overall economic and social institutional arrangements in employment in specific society. • Over the past two decades the atypical employment in most countries has been so vulnerable to any economic downturn. It expands very fast during the growth period, but on the other hand it retrenches so rapidly in facing the recession. • In order to maintain socio-political stability, and to preserve excellent human capital for the up coming growth, the issue of protecting atypical workers becomes one of the critical tasks for the state to deal with.

33. Thank you for your attention