TAIPEI -- The starting salary for first-time employees in Taiwan dropped 808 new Taiwan dollars ($26) from the previous year to 27,042 new Taiwan dollars in 2018, a survey has shown.

Their desired pay also fell 1,162 new Taiwan dollars to 31,103 new Taiwan dollars during the past year, according to local human resource platform 1111 Job Bank.

The starting salary for engineering-related graduates reached 34,098 new Taiwan dollars, the highest, followed by consultation-related graduates and those who have a background in mathematics, physics and chemistry education, with a salary of 34,000 and 29,690 new Taiwan dollars respectively.

Graduates who major in sports, sightseeing and catering earned only 24,471 new Taiwan dollars, the survey showed.

It also showed that 63.83 percent of the respondents are most concerned with pay and welfare and 55.32 percent are concerned with the location of where they work.

A total of 68.55 percent of university graduates have been employed while 29.79 percent of them have had changed jobs at least twice, it said, adding that working overtime, seeking better opportunities and feeling no sense of achievement are major reasons for job-hopping.

A total of 1,269 questionnaires were collected during the survey from Dec. 10 to 27.