The number of workers placed on formal unpaid leave programs in the first half of this month stood at about 3,800, with more than 70 percent affected by US tariffs on Taiwanese exports, the Ministry of Labor today said.
A total of 3,839 workers at 240 companies were on furlough as of today, Ministry of Labor Department of Labor Standards and Equal Employment head Huang Chi-ya (黃琦雅) today said at a briefing in Taipei.
The figure was an increase from the 3,770 workers at 247 firms reported to be on furlough on March 2.
Photo: CNA
Most were in the manufacturing sector.
"A total of 184 companies, involving 2,804 workers, reported being affected by US tariffs, with those cases accounting for more than 70 percent of the overall total," Huang said.
Most newly reported furlough cases this month were still tied to changes in domestic or export orders, and companies had not indicated they were already being affected by the Section 301 investigation, she said.
The investigation refers to probes launched by the US on Wednesday last week under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 into the manufacturing policies and practices of 16 trading partners, including Taiwan, citing concerns over excess capacity and overproduction.
Huang said companies in Taiwan had not reported furloughs linked to oil price fluctuations caused by ongoing military conflict between the US, Israel and Iran in the Middle East.
"The war in the Middle East and the Section 301 investigations both arose over the past one to two weeks, so they have not yet been reflected in furlough figures," she said.
Most enterprises implementing furlough programs in the first half of this month were small companies employing fewer than 50 people, and most programs were scheduled to last less than three months, the ministry said.
The ministry updates its furloughed worker data on the 1st and 16th of every month and reports on the number of employees placed on furloughs registered by companies.
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