The unemployment rate last month fell to 3.66 percent, down 0.04 percentage points from a month earlier, as fewer people lost their jobs to business downsizing or temporary hiring, although more people quit, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
The data represented the lowest March unemployment level in 18 years, supported by a stable economy that helped firms maintain steady headcounts, it said.
“Many people who wanted to switch jobs landed new positions,” which is why the jobless gauge dropped from 3.7 percent in February, DGBAS Deputy Director Pan Ning-hsin (潘寧馨) told a media briefing.
Taiwanese who are dissatisfied with their work tend to change jobs after collecting year-end bonuses ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.
The seasonal jobless rate stood at 3.67 percent, affirming a stable job market, Pan said.
The statistics agency is likely to raise its growth forecast on Friday for the nation’s economy last quarter and this year, after outbound shipments picked up at a faster pace than its February projection.
However, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (台積電) conservative business guidance last week cast a shadow on the economy.
Taiwan is home to the world’s largest contract chipmakers, with semiconductors accounting for 30 percent of the nation’s exports.
The DGBAS’ latest report showed that the number of unemployed people declined by 5,000 to 433,000, first-time jobseekers decreased by 2,000, and people who lost their jobs to business downsizing and seasonal hiring dropped by 2,000 each.
The number of people who quit increased by 1,000, it added.
The labor force grew by 6,000 people to 11.4 million, as service-oriented sectors supplied 59.35 percent of jobs, industrial sectors contributed 35.7 percent and agricultural sectors the remaining 4.91 percent, the report said.
By education breakdown, university graduates had the highest unemployment rate at 5.05 percent, followed by high-school graduates at 3.6 percent and those with graduate degrees at 2.87 percent, it said.
Unemployment was highest among people aged between 20 and 24 at 11.75 percent, followed by the 15-to-19 age group at 8.06 percent and those aged from 25 to 29 at 6.4 percent, it added.
The unemployment period averaged 23.5 weeks last month, shorter by a half week from one month earlier, it said.
However, first-time jobseekers reported greater difficulty securing jobs, with their unemployment duration lasting for 30.2 weeks on average, the report said.
For the first three months of the year, the jobless rate averaged 3.68 percent, the lowest in 18 years for the period, it said.
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