The nation's jobless rate held at a two-year low last month as companies such as AU Optronics Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co stepped up hiring to meet increased export orders.
The unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted, was 4.7 percent, unchanged from November, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said in a statement.
That's the lowest its been since June 2001. The number of people out of work fell to 465,000 from 477,000 a month earlier, helped by a NT$20 billion (US$599 million) government jobs program.
The nation's electronics makers are expanding to meet surging demand in China, where factory production is growing at a record pace and per capita disposable incomes in towns and cities last year topped US$1,000 for the first time. That's helping to create jobs and revive growth in an economy that suffered its worst recession on record in 2001.
"It appears job openings are increasing so the jobless rate will drop, aided also by the government job expansion program," said Joanne Yang, a Taipei-based economist at Yuanta Core Pacific Securities Co.
The number of jobs listed by Taiwan's biggest online recruiter, Job Bank 104 Corp, rose 62 percent from a year earlier last month and increased about 2 percent from November.
Electronics exports account for more than a fifth of Taiwan's overseas sales, which in turn contribute about half of the country's GDP. Total exports rose 21 percent to a record US$14 billion last month and electronics shipments grew 33 percent. Shipments to China, which account for about a third of the nation's overseas sales, jumped 33 percent.
"The economic recovery is becoming clearer and manufacturers are actively hiring," Chen Jin-cherng, a deputy director at the statistics agency, told reporters at a briefing in Taipei.
About 29,000 extra workers were taken on by manufacturers in the fourth quarter and the jobless rate will likely stay below 5 percent throughout this year, he said.
The number of unemployed people who lost their jobs because of business closures and job cuts fell to 183,000 last month from 193,000 the previous month, yesterday's report showed.
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