Taiwan's jobless rate -- already plagued by the global economic slump -- may hit 5 percent in July as graduates began their search for employment, a report said yesterday.
The unemployment rate in June hit 4.51 percent, up from 4.22 percent in May and up sharply from 2.89 percent a year earlier, according to the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.
A Chinese-language newspaper reported that the jobless rate might break 5 percent in July as the economy showed no sign of recovery.
Taiwan's second-quarter GDP fell 2.35 percent over the same period of last year, far exceeding most economists' expectations and far worse than the first quarter's 0.91 percent, Lin Chuan (
Lin also predicts that the domestic economy for the entire year will contract by 0.37 percent, down from a previous projection of 4.02 percent growth for the year.
The paper forecast the jobless rate in July would rise by at least 0.3 of a percentage point. The official jobless rate is due to be released on Aug. 23. The directorate warned last month that the rate could top 5 percent in the next two to three months.
The paper said that the government might have to raise its jobless rate forecast for the full year from the previously predicted 4.1 percent.
The directorate said 442,000 people were out of work in June, an increase of 31,000 from a month earlier.
More than 3,100 factories in Taiwan closed in the six months to June, up 55.3 percent from a year earlier, according to Ministry of Economic Affairs statistics.
Falling overseas demand for Taiwan-made computers and other electronic products is taking a toll on export growth and forcing manufacturers to lay off workers as sales slump. Exports make up about half of Taiwan's economy.
The total population affected by rising joblessness has topped one million for the first time, said Chen Jin-cherng (
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