Nation's unemployment rate falls to 5.22 percent

Taiwan's jobless rate in November fell for the third consecutive month to 5.22 percent from 5.31 percent in the previous month, mainly due to a decline in first-time job seekers, official data showed yesterday.

The unemployment rate hit a record high of 5.35 percent in August.

The Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said about 522,000 people were jobless last month, a fall of 8,000 from October.

It said some 9.48 million people were employed, up 29,000 from October and up 85,000 from a year earlier.

Chen Jin-cherng (陳金城), deputy director of the DGBAS census department, said the department expects this month's jobless rate to fall below 5.2 percent and to below 5.0 percent next month on hopes that the number of temporary positions would increase as the Lunar New Year approaches.

He said the jobless rate for this year is expected to hover around 5.18 percent.

"Companies shifting to China and shrinking their production in Taiwan have become the norm, so the pressure on the jobless rate always exists," said Frank Yow, research manager at 104 Corp, Taiwan's largest online recruiter.

Domestic companies such as notebook-computer maker Inventec Co (英業達) are expanding production in China as Taiwan's government eases restrictions on cross-strait investment. The company said earlier this month it will cut as many as 500 jobs in Taiwan, or a quarter of its manufacturing staff.

Like their Taiwanese counterparts, other global manufacturers view China as the investment destination of choice in Asia. In addition to having cheaper labor than Taiwan and other developed economies, China has a growing middle class in cities such as Shanghai and Beijing that companies want to sell to. Foreign investment in Taiwan fell 13 percent last month.

The number of people who lost their jobs because of business closures and job cuts rose to 243,000 last month from 238,000 in October, the government said.