Taiwan’s labor market showed signs of resilience and modest improvement last month, with the unemployment rate edging down 0.03 percentage points from the previous month to 3.32 percent, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
The data terminated a two-month upward trend and represented the lowest unemployment rate for April in 25 years, the agency said, adding that the reading after seasonal adjustments held steady at 3.36 percent.
“The domestic job market continued to reflect overall stability,” Census Department Deputy Director Tan Wen-ling (譚文玲) told a news conference.
Photo: CNA
Geopolitical uncertainties, such as “reciprocal” tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump, had little direct impact on last month’s figures, Tan said.
Barring unexpected shocks, the unemployment rate for this month is expected to drop further, despite a slight uptick in the number of people with reduced work hours, she said.
The number of unemployed people last month was about 399,000, down about 4,000, or 0.99 percent, from a month earlier, the DGBAS said in its monthly report.
People who left their previous positions due to job dissatisfaction shrank by 1,000, while first-time jobseekers dropped by 2,000, it said.
Unemployment remained disproportionately high among young people. Those aged 20 to 24 had the highest unemployment rate of 11.3 percent, as first-time jobseekers need more time to adjust to the real world, Tan said.
The age bracket of 15 to 19 was second with 8.15 percent unemployed and the 25-to-29 age group had an average jobless rate of 5.69 percent, the agency said.
By educational breakdown, people with university diplomas reported the highest unemployment rate of 4.47 percent, followed by high-school and vocational-school graduates at 3.12 percent, and those with a graduate degree at 2.9 percent, it said.
The average unemployment period was 20.1 weeks, up 0.5 weeks from the previous month, the DGBAS said.
First-time jobseekers faced longer searches for work, averaging 23.5 weeks, it said.
Overall, the data suggest that Taiwan’s labor market continued to navigate global headwinds with relative strength, even though youth unemployment and long-term joblessness remain persistent challenges, Tan said.
Other labor utilization indicators displayed mixed outcomes.
The number of people underemployed due to insufficient work hours rose by 3,000 to 116,000, while the potential labor force declined by 4,000 to 127,000, the DGBAS said.
The broader labor underutilization rate dropped to 3.36 percent, a 0.05 percentage point fall from the previous month, it said.
Regionally, Taiwan’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 3.36 percent compared unfavorably with South Korea’s 2.7 percent, Japan’s 2.5 percent and Hong Kong’s 3.2 percent, it said.
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