Taiwan's job market will remain stagnant until the third quarter, although January's unemployment rate fell to 5.14 percent from December's 5.22 percent, government statisticians said yesterday.
"Prior to the Lunar New Year, job opportunities were up slightly because retailers hired part-time workers and export orders rose, prompting manufactures to boost production," said Chen Jin-cherng (陳金城), deputy director of the Census Bureau at the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting & Statistics.
The jobless rate for the next two months, however, will worsen, as part-time workers are expected to quit their jobs, Chen said, adding "this year's unemployment rate is likely to average around 5 percent."
Chen said that the number of people out of work in January was 512,000, among which, 277,000 were laid off because of factory closures. But he added that January was the first in 16 consecutive months that saw a monthly increase of 9,000 manufacturing workers and 6,000 construction workers.
Expressing optimism, Chen estimated yesterday that unemployment would probably drop since an economic recovery is expected to begin in the third quarter.
When asked if Taiwan's lotto fever had helped create new positions, Chen said that the number of people in January's service industry increased by 8,000 people, but it was unclear how many jobs were created by the lottery.
The agency previously estimated that Taiwan's WTO entry would negatively affect the country's unemployment by 0.22 percent. Thus, unemployment may climb higher in the coming months as banks and financial-service companies cut staff to consolidate the industry while facing post-WTO foreign rivals.
Despite rising unemployment, Taiwan's leading economic indicators in January rose 1.5 percent to 98.3 -- the highest level since December 2000, the Council for Economic Planning and Development said yesterday.
The council, however, reiterated that Taiwan's economy shows little sign of a strong recovery.
Tina Lo (羅曉畹), a senior researcher at the 104 Job Bank Corp (104
"March and the graduation season in July and August are usually two peaks in the year, when companies start hunting for the most employees," Lo said.
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