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Nation's unemployment rate rises to seven-month high

Taiwan's jobless rate unexpectedly rose to a seven-month high last month, suggesting companies may have pared hiring on concern economic growth will slow.

The seasonally adjusted rate climbed to 3.95 percent last month from 3.93 percent in November, the statistics bureau said in Taipei yesterday. The median estimate of eight economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was 3.91 percent.

The jobs report "wasn't as good as expected perhaps because of the global slowdown," said Lucas Lee (李志安), a Taipei-based economist at Mega Securities Co (兆豐證券).

Goldman Sachs Group Inc last week cut its forecast for Taiwan's expansion, citing the likely effects of the US slowdown on export demand. Goldman lowered its economic growth estimate for this year to 3.8 percent from an earlier prediction of 4.2 percent.

The number of people that were unemployed rose to 426,000 last month from 423,000 in November, the statistics bureau said, citing seasonally adjusted figures.

Still, the number of people looking for jobs increased last month, which may be a sign they are confident and "encouraged by strong external trade and good production figures" in the past few months, Lee said.

Taiwanese exports surged 19.8 percent to a record last month as increased sales to China compensated for a slowdown in demand in the US.
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