The number of new job openings created in March rose more than 3.54 percent year-on-year on the back of an improving economy, the Ministry of Labor said yesterday, citing statistics compiled by the ministry’s TaiwanJobs recruitment platform.
Employers from all business sectors signed up with government-run recruitment organizations in March sought to hire 136,175 new employees, representing a 21-month high, the ministry said.
The increase in new job openings was announced by the ministry after the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) on Monday last week reported that the jobless rate was 3.78 percent, a decrease of 0.11 percentage points year-on-year and 0.07 percentage points month-on-month.
As the local and global economic environments improve, several local think tanks having upgraded their GDP growth forecasts for this year to more than 2 percent, compared with the 1.5 percent GDP increase the nation posted last year.
The DGBAS last week reported that GDP growth in the first quarter of 2.56 percent, beating a February estimate of 2.45 percent.
Almost 50 percent of employers who registered job openings with the ministry said that the number of new jobs available rose both month-on-month and year-on-year, the ministry said, adding that the increase indicated the growth in demand for talent was aimed at business expansion.
The number of new job openings in the local manufacturing sector totaled 61,685, which accounted for almost half of the total new jobs created in the month, representing an annual increase of 17.31 percent and a monthly rise of 10.42 percent, the ministry said.
The ministry said that almost 40 percent of the new jobs created in March by the local manufacturing sector were located in Tainan (19.7 percent) and Taoyuan (18.89 percent).
A total of 67,325 jobseekers signed up with government-run recruitment organizations in March, representing a 9.43 percent monthly increase, the ministry said.
Based on the latest jobseeker data, the ratio of jobseekers to job opportunities was 1:2.02, the ministry said.
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