The unemployment rate fell 0.13 percentage points from August to 3.66 percent last month, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said yesterday.
Last month’s figure was also 0.3 percentage points lower than the level in September last year and the lowest in five months, the agency said in its monthly report.
The unemployment rate after seasonal adjustments fell 0.03 percentage points from August to 3.64 percent, the report said.
Photo: CNA
The result is in line with the statistics agency’s expectations, following the peak period for university graduates to enter the job market, which often falls between June and August.
The number of unemployed people last month fell by 16,000 from a month earlier to 433,000, with the number of first-time jobseekers failing to land positions decreasing by 9,000 monthly and those who lost their jobs due to business downsizing and closures dropping by 5,000, the report said.
The number of people who worked fewer than 35 hours a week was 213,000 last month, down from 279,000 in August and 295,000 in September last year, the agency said.
The DGBAS said the local labor market has returned to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, given the declines in both the unemployment rate and the number of people who were unemployed.
The improvement in the labor market was also reflected in youth unemployment figures. The unemployment rate among people aged 20 to 24 fell to 12.7 percent from 13.06 percent in August. The rate for the 25-to-29 age bracket dropped to 6.01 percent from 6.18 percent, while the rate for the 15-to-24 age group was 8.95 percent last month, little changed from 8.9 percent in the previous month, the data showed.
The unemployment rate for people aged 30 to 34 fell to 3.87 percent from 3.89 percent in August, the report said.
By education breakdown, people with university education had the highest unemployment rate with 5.29 percent, followed by high-school graduates with 3.26 percent and graduate degree holders with 2.8 percent, the data showed.
The average unemployment period last month rose by seven days to 22 weeks, as it took first-time jobseekers 20.8 weeks to land positions, while others spent 22.3 weeks finding jobs, the report said.
The number of people who had been unemployed for more than a year last month fell by 2,000 from August to 62,000, but rose by 18,000 from a year earlier, it said.
In the first nine months of this year, the unemployment rate was 3.69 percent, down 0.35 percentage points from a year earlier, the agency said.
Looking ahead, the jobless rate would likely fall further this month thanks to the recovery in the service sector, it added.
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
Popular vape brands such as Geek Bar might get more expensive in the US — if you can find them at all. Shipments of vapes from China to the US ground to a near halt last month from a year ago, official data showed, hit by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a crackdown on unauthorized e-cigarettes in the world’s biggest market for smoking alternatives. That includes Geek Bar, a brand of flavored vapes that is not authorized to sell in the US, but which had been widely available due to porous import controls. One retailer, who asked not to be named, because
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
MINERAL DIPLOMACY: The Chinese commerce ministry said it approved applications for the export of rare earths in a move that could help ease US-China trade tensions Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) is today to meet a US delegation for talks in the UK, Beijing announced on Saturday amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers. He is to visit the UK from yesterday to Friday at the invitation of the British government, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. He and US representatives are to cochair the first meeting of the US-China economic and trade consultation mechanism, it said. US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that a new round of trade talks with China would start in London beginning today,
RSS