The average age of people applying for unemployment benefits has fallen while their education level has risen the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) said yesterday. CLA survey results showed that last year’s unemployment rate among workers aged 15 to 29 with a college degree was 9.33 percent, almost twice as high as the unemployment rate for the general working population.
One out of every three unemployed workers is under 30 years old, council statistics showed.
From last September to December, the number of applicants for unemployment benefits totaled 64,764, with an even distribution between men and women. The majority of unemployed workers fall into the 25-to-29 age group (15,135 people), followed by workers under 25 years old. Those in the 30-to-39 age group are another large group (23,412 people).
Although most of the unemployed were vocational school graduates, those with higher qualifications comprised almost half the unemployed population, the council said.
Council officials attributed this phenomenon to the global financial crisis, which has especially affected Taiwanese white-collar workers in high-tech companies. Another reason for the falling age of applicants is that younger unemployed workers do not feel an immediate need to look for a new job, the official said.
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