The unemployment rate last month edged down 0.04 percentage points to 3.36 percent from a month earlier, the third consecutive month of decline, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
The figure was the second-lowest recorded for the month of November in 24 years, second only to 3.34 percent in November last year, the agency said in a report.
After seasonal adjustments, the unemployment rate rose 0.03 percentage points to 3.41 percent from August, the report showed.
Photo: CNA
The number of unemployed people last month fell by 5,000 month-on-month to 403,000, the DGBAS said, attributing the decline mainly to a lower number of people unhappy with their jobs.
The number of people employed in the domestic agricultural and services sectors fell by 2,000 each from a month earlier, but there were 1,000 more jobs in the industrial sector, it said.
Overall, the local labor market has stabilized, given the decline in the unemployment rate and the number of people who are unemployed, it added.
The stabilization of the labor market was also reflected in youth unemployment figures.
The unemployment rate among people aged 15 to 19 edged down to 7.91 percent from 9.12 percent in October; fell to 11.3 percent from 11.84 percent for people aged 20 to 24; and fell to 5.85 percent from 6.07 percent for those aged 25 to 29; but rose to 3.46 percent from 3.44 percent for those aged between 30 and 34, the report showed.
People with a university degree had the highest unemployment rate at 4.49 percent, followed by high-school graduates at 3.13 percent and graduate degree holders at 2.97 percent, the data showed.
The average unemployment period last month rose slightly to 21.1 weeks, as it took first-time jobseekers an average of 23.2 weeks to land positions, while others spent 20.5 weeks finding jobs, the report said.
The number of people who were unemployed for more than a year last month rose by 4,000 from October to 51,000 and increased by 6,000 from a year earlier, it said.
In the first 11 months of this year, the unemployment rate was 3.39 percent, down 0.1 percentage points from a year earlier, the agency said.
Census Department Deputy Director Tan Wen-ling (譚文玲) said that if economic conditions remain stable, the jobless rate is expected to fall further as this month is the traditional peak consumption season before the Lunar New Year holiday.
Ryanair, Transavia, Volotea and other low-cost airlines are feeling the financial pain from high jet fuel prices as a result of the Middle East war and are cutting flights. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has taken a huge chunk of oil supplies off the market, sending the price of jet fuel soaring and triggering fears of shortages that could force airlines to cancel flights. Airlines are not waiting for a lack of supplies to react. “Travel alert: Airlines are cutting thousands of flights right now,” Travel Therapy host Karen Schaler said in an Instagram reel this past weekend.
MANAGING RISKS: Taiwan has secured LNG sufficient to cover 95 percent of electricity demand for next month, UBS said, describing the government’s approach as proactive UBS Group AG has raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 8 percent, up from 6.9 percent previously, and said expansion could reach as high as 8.6 percent if external energy shocks are avoided. The upgrade reflects a stronger-than-expected first-quarter performance and sustained momentum in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven exports, which UBS said are providing a firm foundation for growth despite geopolitical and energy risks. Taiwan’s GDP expanded 13.69 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, the fastest growth since the second quarter of 1987, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported on Thursday. On a seasonally
The Fair Trade Commission’s (FTC) ongoing review of Grab Holdings Ltd’s US$600 million acquisition of Foodpanda Taiwan’s operations, announced on March 23, has taken on fresh urgency as industry experts warn that the transaction could embed significant Chinese cybersecurity vulnerabilities into Taiwan’s digital infrastructure through Grab’s deep ties to autonomous-driving firm WeRide (文遠知行). Less than 16 months after the FTC blocked Uber Eats’ direct attempt to acquire Foodpanda Taiwan — citing potential combined market shares of 80 to 90 percent — the emergence of Grab as the buyer has prompted questions about whether the same competitive harm is simply being rerouted
The list of Asian stocks that benefit from business partnership with Nvidia Corp is getting longer, as the region further integrates into the artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant’s business ecosystem. Just in the past week, South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc, Taiwan’s Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), as well as China’s Huizhou Desay SV Automotive Co (德賽西威) and Pateo Connect Technology Shanghai Corp (博泰車聯) have become the latest to rally on news of tie-ups, supply-chain participation or product collaboration with the US chip designer. Asian suppliers account for about 90 percent of Nvidia’s production costs, up from about 65 percent last year, data compiled
RSS