The number of workers on unpaid leave in the nation fell sharply from the end of last month after a major automaker shelved its unpaid leave program, the Ministry of Labor said yesterday.
While the ministry did not identify the automaker, local media have reported that it was Kuozui Motors Ltd (國瑞汽車), a joint venture between Taiwan’s Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp and Hino Motors Ltd that makes passenger vehicles and trucks under the Toyota and Hino brands.
As of Tuesday, 667 employees were on unpaid leave, down from 2,854 on Dec. 31, which was the highest since the end of December 2015 when the number stood at 4,756, ministry data showed.
A high inventory of passenger vehicles had forced Kuozui Motors to launch the furlough program, but the firm’s truck production lines were not affected, local media reported.
The government releases data on unpaid leave twice a month to provide up-to-date snapshots of the labor market and the local economy.
The number of employers furloughing workers across the nation also fell from 25 at the end of last month to 19 as of Tuesday, the data showed.
During the first half of this month, 10 employers ended unpaid leave programs as four introduced them, bringing the total to 19.
Most of the 19 employers had a workforce of no more than 50 workers and the number of furloughed days was up to four days a month, the ministry said, adding that the duration of the programs was less than three months.
The nation’s jobless rate in November stood at 3.7 percent, down 0.05 percentage points from a month earlier, with the lagging economic index holding resilient as exports took a hit from the trade row between the US and China.
The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) last month said that while the pace of economic growth is slowing, the local job market remains stable.
A healthy job market is crucial to prop up consumer spending this year as the nation’s export-oriented economy is expected to slow.
In November, the DGBAS cut its GDP growth forecast for last year by 0.03 percentage points to 2.66 percent and downgraded its forecast for this year by 0.14 percentage points to 2.41 percent. The government is mulling stimulus measures to boost consumer spending.
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