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Unemployment rate down, likely to stay there this year: DGBAS

The nation's unemployment rate fell to 3.78 percent last month from 3.79 percent in January on declines in the number of temporary jobseekers, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.

Last month's figure, a six-year low for a February, was down from 3.92 percent in the same month a year earlier, the directorate said.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, last month's unemployment rate came in at 3.91 percent, down from 3.94 percent in January and 3.93 percent a year earlier, it said.

It said the jobless rate would likely remain around the current level this year.

"As the economy is expected to grow more than 4 percent, we believe demand for labor to be there," said Huang Jiann-jong (黃建中), deputy director of the directorate's Bureau of Census.

The jobless rate averaged 3.91 percent last year, when GDP grew 4.62 percent. This year, the directorate forecasts a 4.3 percent GDP expansion.

Last month 402,000 of the nation's 10.65 million labor force were unemployed, a fall of 1,000 from January, DGBAS said.

Total employment rose 0.04 percent, or by 4,000 workers, to 10.24 million last month from the previous month, it said.

GDP FORECAST

Meanwhile, the Polaris Research Institute (寶華經濟研究院) yesterday raised its GDP forecast for this year to 4.25 percent from its previous prediction of 4.2 percent in December, citing improving domestic demand. The forecast is still lower than the government's estimate of 4.3 percent.

Due to increased employment, a growth in real wages, a good performance on the stock market, alongside the easing consumer debt crisis, domestic consumption has strengthened since the last quarter of last year, the institute said in a statement.

Domestic consumption is expected to increase by 3.05 percent, nearly double the 1.53 percent growth rate last year, the institute said.

Additional reporting by jessie ho
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