Graduate Work-Readiness in Taiwan: Stakeholder Perspectives and Best Practices

Abstract

Taiwan is a small island country in East Asia, located next to Japan and Mainland China. Taiwan’s economy has evolved from an agriculture-based economy before the 1950s to a manufacturing-driven industrialised economy in the 1960s to 1990s, and finally to a service-driven economy in the post-1990 era. Yet, the steady expansion of foreign reserves is not sufficient to compensate for decreasing domestic demand and investment. As economic growth has remained sluggish in recent years, there has been an increasing tension and unrest within society. For example, there is an escalating standoff between employers and workers over the controversial revision of the labour law on wages, overtime, shift management and paid leave. For graduates and young people in general, this has resulted in a challenging time to enter the workplace. Two ‘best practice case studies’ are included later in the chapter representing leading firms in the manufacturing and service industries. These short cases illustrate how these firms address graduate work-readiness (GWR) challenges; hence, their strategies may be useful for other firms and other countries included in this book to adopt.