The nation’s unemployment rate rose to 4.02 percent last month from the 3.92 percent seen the previous month, but the figure is still the lowest level posted in July in the past 14 years, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
The results were in line with the DGBAS’ expectations, as recent university graduates entered the job market last month, giving the figures a slight bump.
However, the 4.02 percent jobless rate seen last month represents the lowest unemployment level for July since 2000, an indication that the environment for jobseekers is healthier than usual, the DGBAS said in its monthly report.
The increase in first-time jobseekers usually boosts unemployment figures in the June-to-August period, DGBAS Deputy Director Lo Yi-ling (羅怡玲) said, adding that the nation’s unemployment rate would likely reflect that seasonal trend and show a month-on-month rise in unemployment for this month.
“However, the seasonal rise in the jobless rate this year has been less than the figure from the same period during the past 10 years, an indication that the unemployment rate could return to show a month-on-month decline next month in tune with the nation’s economic recovery,” Lo told a press conference.
The number of unemployed rose by 13,000 to 464,000 last month from a month earlier, with the number of first-time jobseekers failing to get an offer up by 9,000 month-on-month, the report said.
1111 Job Bank (1111人力銀行) public relations director Daniel Lee (李大華) said demand for human resources has been relatively strong this year, which should help slow the typical seasonal rise in unemployment seen over the next few months.
Data provided by the DGBAS also show that first-time jobseekers have to spend less time to get an offer, reflecting a relatively strong demand for human resources and better economic sentiment this year.
The DGBAS report also said that the average monthly wage in the industrial and service sectors climbed to a record high of NT$37,965 in the first six months of the year, an increase of 1.46 percent from the previous year.
The overall average monthly wage, including bonuses and compensation, rose 4.11 percent to a new high of NT$50,343 in the January-to-June period, compared with the same period in the previous year, the report said.
However, the increase in the average monthly wage was still lower than the pace of the nation’s headline inflation reading.
After adjusting the average for inflation — which climbed 1.21 percent year-on-year in the first six months — the real average wage, including bonuses and compensation, totaled NT$48,622. This is still lower than the NT$48,774 recorded during the same period in 1998, the report said.
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