Bolstered by large-scale hiring in the service sector, the nation's unemployment rate dropped 0.13 percentage points to 4.15 percent last month from February, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics announced yesterday.
A total of 428,000 people were out of work last month, a decline of 13,000 from February.
After seasonal adjustments, the unemployment rate was 4.21 percent, down 0.08 percentage points from the previous month, according to a statement released by the agency.
The service sector, which hired 9,000 people last month, or 0.16 percent of the total work force, contributed to the reduction in the jobless rate, while the agricultural and industrial sectors respectively cut 4,000 and 2,000 jobs, the statement said.
"Job openings in the service industry, as well as banking, wholesale and retail businesses, have been at a high level with various new products and services continually entering the market," Monica Chiu (
Currently, there are over 260,000 positions posted on the job bank's Web site, and the demand is expected to last through the second quarter of the year, Chiu said.
The unemployment rate is traditionally higher from June until August, when college graduates enter the job market.
But Chiu said that the figure is not expected to rise that much this year, as there are enough jobs available for first-time job seekers.
The job bank's Web site currently has 130,000 vacancies for first-time job seekers, including entry-level sales or marketing jobs, she said.
Asked whether the new Laborers' Pension Law (勞工退休條例) will have an impact on the job market, Chiu said she doesn't think the law will result in significant personnel downsizing of companies.
The law is slated to be implemented on July 1, and will require employers to direct more money to employees' pension funds.
To save costs after the new pension law comes into effect, most companies will seek to cut benefits or curtail promotions instead of laying off employees, she said.
According to the statistics agency, people that quit because they were dissatisfied with their jobs comprised the largest grouping among those who were unemployed last month, showing an increase of 9,000 people from February. The number of people whose temporary jobs were terminated increased by 6,000.
In addition to reducing their personnel budgets, Chiu said companies are tending toward outsourcing part of their operations to save costs, a trend that is getting more significant as the implementation of the new pension law draws nearer.
A recent survey by the job bank showed that 27 percent of enterprises are mulling the adoption of an outsourcing strategy after July 1, while the outsourcing cases offered on the job bank this month grew by 25 percent from a year ago.
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