The number of furloughed workers in the nation edged higher at the end of last month from the previous week as some export-oriented manufacturers saw their orders dry up, the Ministry of Labor reported on Thursday.
The latest report released by the ministry showed that manufacturers had 8,037 workers on unpaid leave programs at the end of last month, an increase of 747 from March 23.
The number of manufacturers that instituted unpaid leave programs reported to the ministry also rose to 332 from 321, data showed.
Overall, the number of furloughed workers rose to 18,716 as of the end of last month, up 872 from the 17,844 recorded on March 23, while the number of employers with workers on unpaid leave rose by 43 to 2,427, the ministry said.
Labor Conditions and Equal Employment Division deputy head Wang Chin-jung (王金蓉) said a chemical company reported putting 600 employees on a furlough program, the biggest such move in the manufacturing sector so far this year.
The company decided to have its employees take three to 13 days of unpaid leave a month for three months because its clients had scaled back their orders, Wang said.
A hardware tools company reported that it was putting about 110 workers on unpaid leave for three months and a wiring manufacturer initiated a two-month furlough program for more than 80 workers, he said.
However, a biotech company ended its furlough program, returning 150 workers to their full-time jobs during the week after reporting a recovery in orders, he said.
The number of furloughed workers in the manufacturing sector has increased from 5,000 at the end of January to about 6,000 at the end of February and about 8,000 at the end of last month, Wang said.
The number of furloughed employees in the retail and wholesale sector rose by 77 workers to 1,398 at the end of last month, while the number of furloughed workers in the support services sector, which is made up largely of travel agencies, rose by 15 to 6,817, ministry data showed.
The ministry updates its furloughed worker data on the 1st, 8th, 16th and 24th of each month.
Most of the enterprises that have implemented furlough programs are firms that employ fewer than 50 people.
Unpaid leave programs typically last for less than three months, with employees taking five to eight days of unpaid leave per month, the ministry said.
MARKET LEADERSHIP: Investors are flocking to Nvidia, drawn by the company’s long-term fundamntals, dominant position in the AI sector, and pricing and margin power Two years after Nvidia Corp made history by becoming the first chipmaker to achieve a US$1 trillion market capitalization, an even more remarkable milestone is within its grasp: becoming the first company to reach US$4 trillion. After the emergence of China’s DeepSeek (深度求索) sent the stock plunging earlier this year and stoked concerns that outlays on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure were set to slow, Nvidia shares have rallied back to a record. The company’s biggest customers remain full steam ahead on spending, much of which is flowing to its computing systems. Microsoft Corp, Meta Platforms Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc are
Luxury fashion powerhouse Prada SpA has acknowledged the ancient Indian roots of its new sandal design after the debut of the open-toe footwear sparked a furor among Indian artisans and politicians thousands of miles from the catwalk in Italy. Images from Prada’s fashion show in Milan last weekend showed models wearing leather sandals with a braided design that resembled handmade Kolhapuri slippers with designs dating back to the 12th century. A wave of criticism in the media and from lawmakers followed over the Italian brand’s lack of public acknowledgement of the Indian sandal design, which is named after a city in the
INVESTOR RESILIENCE? An analyst said that despite near-term pressures, foreign investors tend to view NT dollar strength as a positive signal for valuation multiples Morgan Stanley has flagged a potential 10 percent revenue decline for Taiwan’s tech hardware sector this year, as a sharp appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar begins to dent the earnings power of major exporters. In what appears to be the first such warning from a major foreign brokerage, the US investment bank said the currency’s strength — fueled by foreign capital inflows and expectations of US interest rate cuts — is compressing profit margins for manufacturers with heavy exposure to US dollar-denominated revenues. The local currency has surged about 10 percent against the greenback over the past quarter and yesterday breached
The US overtaking China as Taiwan’s top export destination could boost industrial development and wage growth, given the US is a high-income economy, an economist said yesterday. However, Taiwan still needs to diversify its export markets due to the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump’s administration, said Chiou Jiunn-rong (邱俊榮), an economics professor at National Central University. Taiwan’s exports soared to a record US$51.74 billion last month, driven by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) products and continued orders, with information and communication technology (ICT) and audio/video products leading all sectors. The US reclaimed its position as Taiwan’s top export market, accounting for
RSS