The nation's unemployment rate dropped to a nine-month low of 4.98 percent in April from 5.16 percent in March, the government said yesterday.
A total of 495,000 people were out of work in April, about 18,000 people less than the previous month, according to the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).
April's decline in unemployment came as more high-tech jobs opened up and more people became self-employed, particularly in the retail and wholesale sectors, said Chen Jin-cherng (陳金城), deputy director of the bureau of census at DGBAS.
Of those people, 260,000 were unemployed because of factory closures, compared with 271,000 in March, Chen said.
But not all industries are showing signs of recovery, and the number of unemployed will likely rise during the summer months as fresh graduates enter the job market, Chen added.
Unemployment in the four months to April averaged 5.1 percent, up 1.37 percentage point from a year earlier, according to DGBAS.
For full-year 2002, the unemployment rate will likely come in between 4.9 percent and 5 percent, Chen said.
Rising overseas demand for computers and mobile phones ended the nation's worst-ever recession last quarter, helping the economy grow 0.9 percent from a year earlier. Still, a rebound in exports -- which rose in April for the first time in 14 months -- may not generate jobs fast enough to absorb a growing workforce.
"There are more openings," said Tina Lo (羅曉畹), a market researcher at 104 Job Bank (104人力銀行), the nation's largest online job recruitment agency. "Overall, job growth will lag the increase in job seekers, especially when college graduates enter the market in June."
Even as the economy returned to growth last quarter, private investment fell 17 percent, suggesting companies are still cutting costs. China's lower labor and production costs are also luring Taiwanese manufacturers, especially as the two governments ease investment curbs after joining the WTO.
High unemployment is damping demand among consumers, which makes up about two-thirds of total spending. Consumer spending growth slowed to 1.5 percent in the first quarter from 1.9 percent the previous quarter.
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