The nation’s unemployment rate last month rose slightly to 3.66 percent, as workers left their jobs and took longer than usual to find new positions, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
The latest jobless reading suggested a fractional increase of 0.01 percentage points from one month earlier, driven mainly by resignations that often occur after the Lunar New Year holiday, DGBAS Deputy Director Chen Hui-hsin (陳惠欣) said.
The unemployment rate after seasonal adjustment rose 0.03 percentage points to 3.7 percent, affirming a stable job market, the agency’s monthly report showed.
Photo: CNA
“The job market appears calm despite escalating COVID-19 cases,” Chen said, adding that hiring activity is gaining momentum, although the agency would pay close attention for possible changes.
There are usually about 2,000 job resignations after the Lunar New Year holiday, but the number reached 6,000 last month, Chen said, likely because it took jobseekers longer to find new work.
The unemployment rate should decline soon given that the economy is healthy and it should not take long for recently resigned workers to find new jobs, Chen said.
The Cabinet on Sunday said it would extend COVID-19 relief programs to June next year.
The total jobless population reached 435,000 after the 6,000 newly jobless were added to the figure, and 1,000 positions were filled by first-time jobseekers were subtracted, the report said.
Job losses due to downsizing or closures reversed by 7,000 as health authorities loosened quarantine requirements and business restrictions.
The average unemployment period was 21 weeks, shortened by about 1 week from one month earlier, it said.
Unemployment periods for first-time jobseekers shed 6.6 weeks to 22.3 weeks.
University graduates faced the highest unemployment rate at 5.25 percent, followed by high-school graduates at 3.32 percent and people with graduate degrees at 2.81 percent, the DGBAS said.
Junior college graduates had an unemployment rate of 2.64 percent and people with junior-high school or lower education had the lowest jobless rate at 2.58 percent.
People aged 20 to 24 had the highest unemployment rate at 12.48 percent, followed by the 15-to-19 age bracket at 8.47 percent, the 25-to-29 age group at 6.19 percent and the 30-to-34 age group at 3.5 percent, it said.
People aged 35 to 39 had jobless rates of 2.91 percent and people aged 45 to 64 had the lowest unemployment rate at 2.23 percent.
Taiwan’s unemployment rate is lower than Hong Kong’s 4.2 percent, but higher than South Korea’s 3 percent and Japan’s 2.6 percent, government data showed.
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