The number of furloughed workers last week increased slightly from the previous week, but declined last month for the fifth consecutive month, the Ministry of Labor said yesterday.
As of Friday, 685 companies had implemented unpaid leave programs, an increase of 30 from a week ago, with a total of 13,303 workers put on leave, up by 119 from a week earlier, data compiled by the ministry showed.
Over the past week, one more manufacturer began an unpaid leave program, but the overall number of workers on leave in the manufacturing sector declined by 67, Labor Conditions and Equal Employment Division specialist Wang Chin-jung (王金蓉) said.
Photo: CNA
Most of the increases in the number of furloughed workers during the past week came from small enterprises with staff of fewer than 50 in the retail and wholesale, transportation, travel, and public relations and marketing sectors, Wang said.
The number of furloughed workers fell from 17,000 in September to 13,000 last month, continuing a decline, Wang said.
The figure was 30,000 in June, 25,000 in July and 20,000 in August, Wang added.
The number of furloughed workers is expected to continue declining until the end of this year as economic activity picks up, Wang said.
As of Friday, the retail and wholesale sector had the highest number of employers implementing unpaid leave programs at 227, followed by the manufacturing sector with 208.
Manufacturers had the highest number of furloughed workers of any sector at 8,220, ahead of retailers and wholesalers with 2,139, and the transportation and warehousing sector with 1,243, the data showed.
The unpaid leave programs typically last fewer than three months and involve employees taking five to eight days of unpaid leave per month, the ministry said.
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