Unemployment rate at a four-year low, report says

Taiwan's jobless rate stayed at a four-year low last month as hiring by airlines, hotels and stores offset job losses at manufacturers, who are having to rein in expansion as overseas sales slump.

The jobless rate was 4.04 percent last month, down 0.11 percent from March, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said in a report yesterday. The seasonally adjusted jobless rate was 4.21 percent, it said. The rate hasn't been lower since March 2001. The number of people out of work dropped to 417,000 from 428,000 in March as services industries took on 10,000 more workers, the report said.

"Labor demand is strong in services industries because of domestic consumption," said Joanne Yang, an economist with Yuanta Core Pacific Securities (元大京華證券) in Taipei.