The unemployment rate last month dropped to 3.68 percent, falling for the fifth straight month, as fewer people quit or lost their jobs due to business downsizing or closures, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
The latest data showed a decline of 0.07 percentage points from a month earlier as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continued to subside, although it has not yet disappeared, the DGBAS said.
“The job market in Taiwan is quite stable, compared with that in other countries in terms of unemployment and labor participation rates,” DGBAS Deputy Director Chen Hui-hsin (陳惠欣) told a media briefing.
Photo: CNA
The labor participation rate softened from a month earlier to 59.14 percent, the data showed.
The jobless reading after seasonal adjustments was 3.76 percent, shrinking 0.01 percentage points from November last year, affirming a stable job market, according to the agency’s monthly report.
The jobless population contracted by about 9,000 people to 440,000 last month as the number of people who lost jobs due to business downsizing or closures dropped by about 4,000, the agency said.
First-time jobseekers declined at a comparable pace, while people who quit decreased by about 1,000, it said.
For the whole of last year, the jobless rate averaged 3.85 percent, gaining 0.12 percentage points from 2019, it said.
Chen blamed the COVID-19 situation for last year’s data, as it diminished consumer activity in the first quarter, pushing the unemployment rate to 4.07 percent in May last year.
The situation started to improve after July, thanks to a boom in domestic tourism and the government’s Triple Stimulus Voucher program after infections were brought under control in Taiwan, she said.
People with university degrees had the highest unemployment rate at 5.48 percent last year, followed by high-school graduates at 3.56 percent and people with graduate degrees at 3.1 percent, the report showed.
People with a junior college education had the lowest unemployment rate at 2.78 percent, followed by people with a junior-high school education at 2.85 percent, it said.
People aged 20 to 24 had the highest unemployment rate at 12.06 percent, followed by the 15-to-19 bracket at 8.18 percent, the 25-to-29 group at 6.5 percent and the 30-to-34 bracket at 3.67 percent, it said.
People aged 45 to 64 had the lowest unemployment rate of 2.3 percent, it said.
There were 4,000 jobs added last year, the poorest performance since the global financial crisis in 2008-2009, Chen said, adding that the pandemic poses continued uncertainty for this year.
Merida Industry Co (美利達) has seen signs of recovery in the US and European markets this year, as customers are gradually depleting their inventories, the bicycle maker told shareholders yesterday. Given robust growth in new orders at its Taiwanese factory, coupled with its subsidiaries’ improving performance, Merida said it remains confident about the bicycle market’s prospects and expects steady growth in its core business this year. CAUTION ON CHINA However, the company must handle the Chinese market with great caution, as sales of road bikes there have declined significantly, affecting its revenue and profitability, Merida said in a statement, adding that it would
RISING: Strong exports, and life insurance companies’ efforts to manage currency risks indicates the NT dollar would eventually pass the 29 level, an expert said The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rallied to its strongest in three years amid inflows to the nation’s stock market and broad-based weakness in the US dollar. Exporter sales of the US currency and a repatriation of funds from local asset managers also played a role, said two traders, who asked not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak publicly. State-owned banks were seen buying the greenback yesterday, but only at a moderate scale, the traders said. The local currency gained 0.77 percent, outperforming almost all of its Asian peers, to close at NT$29.165 per US dollar in Taipei trading yesterday. The
RECORD LOW: Global firms’ increased inventories, tariff disputes not yet impacting Taiwan and new graduates not yet entering the market contributed to the decrease Taiwan’s unemployment rate last month dropped to 3.3 percent, the lowest for the month in 25 years, as strong exports and resilient domestic demand boosted hiring across various sectors, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. After seasonal adjustments, the jobless rate eased to 3.34 percent, the best performance in 24 years, suggesting a stable labor market, although a mild increase is expected with the graduation season from this month through August, the statistics agency said. “Potential shocks from tariff disputes between the US and China have yet to affect Taiwan’s job market,” Census Department Deputy Director Tan Wen-ling
UNCERTAINTIES: The world’s biggest chip packager and tester is closely monitoring the US’ tariff policy before making any capacity adjustments, a company official said ASE Technology Holding Inc (日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packager and tester, yesterday said it is cautiously evaluating new advanced packaging capacity expansion in the US in response to customers’ requests amid uncertainties about the US’ tariff policy. Compared with its semiconductor peers, ASE has been relatively prudent about building new capacity in the US. However, the company is adjusting its global manufacturing footprint expansion after US President Donald Trump announced “reciprocal” tariffs in April, and new import duties targeting semiconductors and other items that are vital to national security. ASE subsidiary Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品精密) is participating in Nvidia