Entrepreneurship popular among low-salaried Taiwanese youth: survey

TAIPEI, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- The majority of Taiwanese under 40 have started or want to start their own businesses to escape persistently low wages, a survey showed Thursday.

About 75 percent of 924 respondents said they had started or wanted to start their own businesses, with the figure rising to 78 percent in the 21-25 age group, according to the survey by local human resource platform 1111 Job Bank.

Low wages is cited as the top motivator for entrepreneurship, with over 60 percent of those wanting to start their own businesses stating they earn less than 35,000 new Taiwan dollars (1,167.2 U.S.dollars) a month.

Meanwhile, high unemployment, artificial intelligence, big data and social media are all prompting young people to start their own businesses, according to Lee Da-hua, deputy general manager of 1111 Job Bank.

Respondents regard lack of a profitable model, capital and high rent as major setbacks to opening a business, while those with failed attempts to run businesses attributed their failure to a poor business location and lack of customers. Enditem