The unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in five-and-a-half-years last month, as more first-time jobseekers landed jobs, which helped lift the number of the employed, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
The jobless rate improved to 4.02 percent last month, down 0.06 percentage points from 4.08 percent in December last year, DGBAS said in its monthly report.
That is the lowest level since June 2008.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate also dropped 0.07 percentage points to 4.14 percent last month from 4.21 percent in December, the report said.
“The unemployment rate has improved to the level before the global financial crisis struck the nation’s economy and labor market in late 2008,” DGBAS Deputy Director Lo Yi-ling (羅怡玲) told a press conference in Taipei.
There were 462,000 people unemployed last month, a drop of 7,000 from the previous month, the report’s data showed.
The number of first-time jobseekers who failed to get an offer declined by 6,000 last month from December last year, reflecting a recent improvement in the youth market.
The jobless rate for the 15-to-24 age group decreased to 12.69 percent last month, from 13.1 percent the previous month, a fifth straight month of decline, the agency’s statistics showed.
However, there was only a slight rise in the number of employed last month — to 11.04 million — up 7,000 from a month earlier, as the economy’s soft expansion could not provide strong enough momentum for the job market, Lo added.
The number of the unemployed may increase this month given historical trends, as many people looking to change jobs quit before the Lunar New Year holiday, he said.
The agency said real monthly salaries averaged NT$44,739 last year after taking inflation into account, less than the NT$44,798 recorded in 1998, an indication that salaried workers may feel they are earning less than they were 15 years ago.
The average monthly wage in the industrial and service sectors climbed to a new high of NT$37,716 last month, an increase of 0.99 percent from a year earlier, the DGBAS report said.
The overall average monthly wage, including bonuses and compensation, rose 0.17 percent to a new high of NT$45,965 last year compared with 2012, the report said.
However, after adjusting for inflation — which climbed 0.79 percent year-on-year last year — the real average wage, including bonuses and compensation, fell 0.62 percent from 2012 to NT$44,739 per month, the report showed.
ELECTRONICS BOOST: A predicted surge in exports would likely be driven by ICT products, exports of which have soared 84.7 percent from a year earlier, DBS said DBS Bank Ltd (星展銀行) yesterday raised its GDP growth forecast for Taiwan this year to 4 percent from 3 percent, citing robust demand for artificial intelligence (AI)-related exports and accelerated shipment activity, which are expected to offset potential headwinds from US tariffs. “Our GDP growth forecast for 2025 is revised up to 4 percent from 3 percent to reflect front-loaded exports and strong AI demand,” Singapore-based DBS senior economist Ma Tieying (馬鐵英) said in an online briefing. Taiwan’s second-quarter performance beat expectations, with GDP growth likely surpassing 5 percent, driven by a 34.1 percent year-on-year increase in exports, Ma said, citing government
‘REMARKABLE SHOWING’: The economy likely grew 5 percent in the first half of the year, although it would likely taper off significantly, TIER economist Gordon Sun said The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) yesterday raised Taiwan’s GDP growth forecast for this year to 3.02 percent, citing robust export-driven expansion in the first half that is likely to give way to a notable slowdown later in the year as the front-loading of global shipments fades. The revised projection marks an upward adjustment of 0.11 percentage points from April’s estimate, driven by a surge in exports and corporate inventory buildup ahead of possible US tariff hikes, TIER economist Gordon Sun (孫明德) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy likely grew more than 5 percent in the first six months
SMART MANUFACTURING: The company aims to have its production close to the market end, but attracting investment is still a challenge, the firm’s president said Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said its long-term global production plan would stay unchanged amid geopolitical and tariff policy uncertainties, citing its diversified global deployment. With operations in Taiwan, Thailand, China, India, Europe and the US, Delta follows a “produce at the market end” strategy and bases its production on customer demand, with major site plans unchanged, Delta president Simon Chang (張訓海) said on the sidelines of a company event yesterday. Thailand would remain Delta’s second headquarters, as stated in its first-quarter earnings conference, with its plant there adopting a full smart manufacturing system, Chang said. Thailand is the firm’s second-largest overseas
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) market value closed above US$1 trillion for the first time in Taipei last week, with a raised sales forecast driven by robust artificial intelligence (AI) demand. TSMC saw its Taiwanese shares climb to a record high on Friday, a near 50 percent rise from an April low. That has made it the first Asian stock worth more than US$1 trillion, since PetroChina Co (中國石油天然氣) briefly reached the milestone in 2007. As investors turned calm after their aggressive buying on Friday, amid optimism over the chipmaker’s business outlook, TSMC lost 0.43 percent to close at NT$1,150