The number of furloughed workers increased to nearly 18,000 last month as the economic effects of COVID-19 travel restrictions continued, but over the long term the number of furloughed workers has been falling, the Ministry of Labor said yesterday.
From Sept. 24 to Wednesday last week, 17,981 workers had reached an agreement with their employers to be placed on unpaid leave programs, an increase of 972 from 17,009 a week earlier, ministry data showed.
The number of employees on unpaid leave programs increased by 41 to 934 during the period, the data showed.
Most of the increases were in the logistics and warehousing, accommodation, and food and beverage industries, as well as the travel sector, Department of Labor Standards and Equal Employment Deputy Director Huang Wei-chen (黃維琛) said, adding that they were mainly due to the effects of border restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the number of furloughed workers has been falling, he said.
The number of workers reported on unpaid leave was 31,000 on July 1, but dropped to 27,000 on Aug. 1, 19,000 on Sept. 1 and was more than 17,000 on Thursday last week, indicating a long-term downward trend, he said.
The retail and wholesale industry recorded the highest number of employees placed on unpaid leave programs at 309 as of Wednesday last week, followed by the manufacturing sector with 283 and the support service industry at 90, ministry data showed.
The manufacturing sector recorded the largest number of furloughed workers, with 10,671, followed by the retail and wholesale industry with 2,887, and the logistics and warehousing sector with 1,670, the data showed.
Most of the enterprises implementing furlough programs are small firms with workforces of fewer than 50 people.
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