Sat, Nov 23, 2024 page12

• Jobless rate drops to lowest in decades

  RECORD LOWS: The national unemployment rate dropped slightly to 3.4 percent last month, the lowest in 24 years, and is expected to fall even lower by the year’s end

  • By Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter
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  The unemployment rate last month shed 0.03 percentage points to 3.4 percent, the lowest in 24 years, as fewer workers quit and more first-time jobseekers landed positions, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.

  The jobless rate, an important gauge for household income and private consumption, is expected to drop further this month and next month, as the high season for consumer spending approaches, the DGBAS said.

  “The labor market is stable and moving in a positive direction,” Census Department Deputy Director Tan Wen-ling (譚文玲) said.

  

  An employee is unloading parcels from a logistics van in Taipei’s Wanhua District yesterday.

  Photo: CNA

  The decline in the unemployment rate this month and next month would be driven by the holiday season, which would see a pickup in hiring activity by local firms to meet business demand, the official said.

  Most Taiwanese companies would throw year-end banquets to show gratitude for their employees and business clients, while friends and family hold reunion gatherings.

  “Things would grow brighter and brighter going forward, in the absence of major unfavorable surprises,” Tan said.

  The number of unemployed people stood at 408,000, shrinking 0.95 percent from September, or 4,000 people, after workers who quit fell by 2,000 and first-time jobseekers reduced by another 2,000, the DGBAS said.

  The jobless rate after seasonal adjustments held steady at 3.38 percent, affirming a stable market, the statistics agency said.

  By education breakdown, people with university degrees had the highest unemployment rate at 4.46 percent, followed by people with high-school diplomas at 3.25 percent, people with graduate study at 2.87 percent and people with junior-college degrees at 2.62 percent, it said.

  People with junior-high school or lower education had the lowest unemployment rate at 2.20 percent, it added.

  Demographically, people aged 20 to 24 had the highest jobless rate of 11.84 percent, followed by the 15-19 bracket at 9.12 percent and peopled aged 25 to 29 at 6.07 percent, the agency added.

  First-time jobseekers accounted for a considerable share of these groups as young people need more time adjusting to the real world, Tan said, adding that unemployment among young people noticeably declined in the long-term data.

  The unemployment period averaged 19.6 weeks, 1.3 weeks shorter than one month earlier, but the period was 20.9 weeks among first-time jobseekers, the official said.

  As people grow older, they become more practical. People aged 30 and 64 had unemployment rates of 2.12 percent to 3.44 percent, the DGBAS said.

  At the same time, the number of people who work fewer than 35 hours per week due to economic reasons fell by 13,000, indicating fewer furlough cases, it said.

  Taiwan’s unemployment rate of 3.45 percent is higher than South Korea’s 2.3 percent, Japan’s 2.5 percent and Hong Kong’s 3.2 percent, the DGBAS said.

  The jobless gauge in the first 10 months averaged 3.39 percent, it said.
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