The study by the Jcase Web site also found only 3.12 percent of office workers thought they were “slightly above average” in terms of personal wealth, a sharp decrease from the well over 50 percent in the past.

The survey was conducted between Nov. 20 and Dec. 10 on 5,028 office workers via online questionnaires, with the margin of error registering plus or minus 1.4 percentage points. A total of 36 percent of workers surveyed said they were “very poor,” with another 38 percent saying they were “poor.”

While 22 percent of respondents thought their financial status was “average,” only 3.4 percent said they were well-to-do or quite wealthy.

As many as 43 percent of respondents attributed their perception of poverty to limited, if not decreasing, income. Other reasons included the large number of expenses they had to cover and soaring consumer prices. Asked to rate on a scale of 0 to 10 the level of agony they felt as a result of their worsening financial status, 74 percent marked 6 or above, with 20 percent giving the highest rating for their level of agony.

The average agony index of the respondents stood at 7.16.

The survey showed almost 57 percent of the workers were in debt, with nearly 44 percent shouldering credit card debt, 37 percent burdened with housing debt and 1.7 percent owing loansharks money.

It was found that 18 percent of the workers were in deficit every month, 40 percent managed to make ends meet, and 21 percent were left with more than NT$5,000 at the end of the month.

In an effort to make extra income, approximately 40 percent of office workers took a second job, while 57 percent were planning to find one, according to the survey.

The poll was in keeping with a recent survey by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, which found last year, as many as 81.6 percent of businesses in Taiwan did not give their employees a raise, an increase of 3.3 percent from 2004.

Of these firms, 74.2 percent said they did not hike employees’ salary because of sluggishness in their respective industries.

The survey also showed 42.5 percent of office workers had received a college education, more than the 41.1 percent who received a high school or vocational training school education and the less than 20 percent who only received a junior high or elementary school education, indicating the jobs market is seeing more college graduates.

However, the government’s effort to raise people’s education level by setting up more universities in Taiwan might lead to a situation where master’s degree or Ph.D degree holders are more in demand in the jobs market, according to experts. A bachelor’s degree diploma may end up worthless in the jobs field, they said.

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