Taipei, Jan. 25 (CNA) Over 70 percent of Taiwan's employees feel generally satisfied with their jobs, while only 3.7 percent were dissatisfied, according to the results of a survey released Monday by the Ministry of Labor.

According to the annual survey on workers' living and employment conditions, 71.2 percent of respondents were largely satisfied with their jobs for the period surveyed, up 0.9 percentage points from the previous year's survey.

Gender equality at work was the aspect employees were most satisfied with, cited by 97.8 percent of those who expressed overall job satisfaction, followed by good working relationships with colleagues, cited by 95.5 percent.

The major sources of job dissatisfaction were employee performance evaluation and promotion systems, cited by 74.6 percent of respondents, followed by wages (66.4 percent) and workload (57.1 percent), according to the survey.

The survey also found that 43.8 percent of local employees worked overtime during the period, down 2.5 percentage points from a year earlier. They worked an average of 14.9 hours of overtime a month, down 1 hour year-on-year.

Nearly six in 10 employees (59.1 percent) in the publishing, audio and video production, broadcasting, and information and communication industry worked overtime, the highest percentage for any group of sectors.

They were followed by 57.8 percent in the professional, scientific and technical services sectors and 57.3 percent in the electricity and gas supply sectors, according to the survey.

The survey found that 87.6 percent of employees were paid for their overtime work or given extra paid time off instead of overtime, down 2.9 percentage points from a year ago.

It also found that 81.5 percent of workers wanted to maintain their current working hours of eight hours per day and 40 hours per week, while 11.1 percent wanted to work fewer hours, and 7.4 percent wanted to work more hours mainly because they wanted to increase their income.

The survey was conducted in May 2020 when the global COVID-19 was affecting Taiwan's economy, and it asked questions related to the pandemic's impact on their working lives.

Some 7.3 percent of respondents said they were affected by such issues as layoffs, pay cuts, or company closures at their workplace due to COVID-19.

Some 6.1 percent of respondents said the economic effect of the outbreak has affected their plans for changing jobs or careers.

Meanwhile, 18.8 percent said they have plans to pursue further studies or learn other skills due to COVID-19's economic effects, and 3.6 percent said the pandemic has affected their plans to work overseas, the survey found.

The ministry survey was targeted at individuals enrolled in Taiwan's labor insurance system, with 4,215 valid samples collected.