The nation’s unemployment rate last month climbed to 3.7 percent, ending six straight months of decline, as more people changed jobs, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
The unemployment rate rose 0.02 percentage points from one month earlier, but fell at the same pace after seasonal adjustments, it said.
It is common for discontented workers in Taiwan to switch jobs after the Lunar New Year holiday, DGBAS Deputy Director Chen Hui-hsin (陳惠欣) told a media briefing.
Photo: CNA
This explains why the number of people who quit their jobs increased by 3,000, in line with the average over past five year, Chen said, adding that the seasonal factor could continue to affect the job market this month, but would then disappear.
The jobless population rose by 5,000 people to 443,000 as some firms terminated temporary or seasonal positions, she said.
As a result, the overall workforce shrank by 0.11 percent, or 13,000 people, from one month earlier, she added.
The agency said the job market was stable, even though unfavorable effects of the COVID-19 pandemic lingered.
The labor participation rate was 59.11 percent, down 0.03 percentage points from January, the DGBAS said.
The average unemployment period was 22.4 weeks, 0.2 weeks longer from one month earlier, while the time for first-time jobseekers to land a job rose to 25.3 weeks, it said.
People with university degrees had the highest unemployment rate at 5.35 percent, followed by high-school graduates at 3.44 percent and people with graduate degrees at 2.84 percent, the agency said.
People with a junior-high school education had the lowest unemployment rate at 2.59 percent, followed by those with a junior college education at 2.61 percent, it showed.
People aged 20 to 24 had the highest unemployment rate at 11.9 percent, followed by 15 to 19-year-olds at 8.46 percent, 25 to 29-year-olds at 6.24 percent and 30 to 34-year-olds at 3.68 percent, the agency said.
People aged 45 to 64 had the lowest unemployment rate at 2.19 percent, it said.
Taiwan’s unemployment rate of 3.7 percent is higher than Japan’s 2.9 percent, but lower than South Korea’s 4.9 percent, Hong Kong’s 6.8 percent and Germany’s 4.6 percent, it added.
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