Taiwan may be recognised as one of the 'Four Asian Tigers' alongside Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore due to its 20th century period of industrialization prowess. Yet, its diverse economy which has attracted foreign investors, now means that employers in Taiwan could require high-level qualified workers in areas such as finance, engineering and sales.
Taiwan has noted a change is needed from its industrial roots and has identified that it can no longer solely rely on making cheap products and selling them to the U.S. and Europe. Instead, the government has analysed six key industries to focus on in the coming years. These include biotechnology, tourism, and green energies.
Taiwan is the world's 24th largest economy and Asia's sixth largest. Yet, it cannot escape its current dilemma of youth unemployment.
Based on the 2012 statistics from the Director-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS), youth unemployment in Taiwan is at 13 percent, compared with an average of 4.31 percent in Taiwan generally.
A story that hit the headlines in the Chinese language weekly, Business Today, printed a Taiwanese graduate's story which highlighted to the world the crisis of youth unemployment as he had no other option than to work as a butcher at an Australian slaughterhouse. For some Taiwanese graduates, they have no choice other than to accept a job abroad in an unrelated and unwanted field of work until student debts have been repaid.
Residents in Taiwan have a fairly high living standard as salaries are relatively high in comparison to the cost of living.