The government aims to lower the unemployment rate to below 5 percent by the end of this year because the local economy is on a strong rebound from the global financial meltdown, Council of Labor Affairs Minister Jennifer Wang (王如玄) said yesterday.
At a job fair held by the council in Kaohsiung, Wang said because of the economic recovery, the job market has improved, with new jobs now surpassing demand.
Wang said the council will try to seize this opportunity to bring down the unemployment rate to below 5 percent by the end of this year.
JOB OFFERINGS
The job fair involved about 50 firms offering more than 4,800 jobs.
Wang expressed hope that employers would increase salaries to attract highly qualified workers that can contribute to industrial development.
Lin San-quei (林三貴), director-general of the council’s Bureau of Employment and Vocational Training, said that apart from organizing job fairs, the bureau has set up a Web site and 24 hour telephone hotlines to match employers with jobseekers.
TECH POSITIONS
In the last two months, the Hsinchu Science Park and the Central Taiwan Science Park, two of the country’s high-tech powerhouses, have held two large job fairs offering 10,000 and 7,857 jobs respectively.
In June, the unemployment rate stood at 5.16 percent, up from the 5.14 percent recorded in May, boosted by first-time jobseekers entering the market following graduation.
However, the job market has shown signs of significant improvement thanks to the revival of the economy, with the unemployment rate falling from a pinnacle of 6.14 percent registered in August last year.
ECONOMIC EXPANSION
In the second quarter, the economy rose 12.53 percent from a year earlier, beating a previous forecast of 7.66 percent, on the back of strong export growth and rising private consumption and investment.
Taiwan witnessed its worst-ever recession, with its GDP falling 9.06 percent in the first quarter of last year, before the local economy gradually recovered and emerged in the fourth quarter of last year.
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