Taiwan’s unemployment rate last month dropped to 3.3 percent, the lowest for the month in 25 years, as strong exports and resilient domestic demand boosted hiring across various sectors, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
After seasonal adjustments, the jobless rate eased to 3.34 percent, the best performance in 24 years, suggesting a stable labor market, although a mild increase is expected with the graduation season from this month through August, the statistics agency said.
“Potential shocks from tariff disputes between the US and China have yet to affect Taiwan’s job market,” Census Department Deputy Director Tan Wen-ling (譚文玲) told a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: CNA
New graduates have not yet entered the labor market, but could push the unemployment rate up by 0.1 to 0.14 percent in the next three months, Tan said.
Global firms increased inventory levels after US President Donald Trump announced a 90-day delay in implementing “reciprocal” tariffs, which led to a rise in overtime hours for local manufacturers, she said.
This contributed to a decrease of 3,000 in the number of unemployed, bringing the total to 396,000, while the number of employed people rose by 6,000 to 11.61 million, the agency said.
Additionally, the number of people leaving their jobs due to dissatisfaction dropped by 2,000. the agency said, citing local firms’ hesitation to expand their payrolls, considering the high uncertainty and the short-term nature of current front-loading activities.
By demographic breakdown, the unemployment rate remained highest among those aged 20 to 24 at 11.4 percent, followed by the 15 to 19 age group at 8.94 percent, with younger people generally taking longer to solidify their career plans and secure positions.
The rate decreased progressively with age, reaching 5.56 percent for those aged 25 to 29 and 3.45 percent for the 30 to 34 age group, the DGBAS said.
Educational attainment showed mixed results. University graduates had the highest jobless rate at 4.41 percent, followed by senior-high school and vocational school graduates at 3.1 percent, it said.
Master’s degree holders had an unemployment rate of 2.88 percent, while people with junior-high school or lower education recorded the lowest unemployment rate at 1.97 percent, the agency said.
The average unemployment duration for all jobseekers was 20.3 weeks, an increase of 0.2 weeks from the previous month. However, first-time jobseekers faced a much longer job search, averaging 26.6 weeks, or 3.1 weeks longer than before.
Despite the current strength in employment figures, the DGBAS remains cautious about the job market’s outlook, saying that it is a lagging economic indicator.
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