The number of workers placed on furlough by their employers has increased slightly in the past week amid a nationwide level 3 COVID-19 alert, the Ministry of Labor said yesterday.
Ministry data showed that 4,125 employees were on unpaid leave, an increase of 200 from Monday last week.
The number of companies implementing unpaid leave programs also rose in the past week, from 414 to 445, the data showed.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
The government on May 19 raised the COVID-19 alert level in response to a surge in locally transmitted infections, banning indoor gatherings of more than five people and outdoor gatherings of more than 10, while mandating the closure of schools and many other public venues.
The restrictions have had relatively little effect on sectors such as manufacturing, Department of Labor Standards and Equal Employment Director Huang Wei-chen (黃維琛) said.
However, other sectors continue to be severely affected by border controls, particularly support services, transportation, warehouse services and tourism sectors, Huang said.
Hotels have been doing better than expected, as many of them have been commissioned by the government to provide rooms for people who must undergo quarantine, he said.
The food and beverage industries have also remained resilient, with many restaurants switching to takeout and delivery services, Huang added.
Businesses might soon receive a new round of government stimulus funding, which could reduce the number of furloughed employees, he said.
The transportation and warehousing sector reported the highest number of furloughed workers in the past week (1,301 workers), followed by the support services sector (1,012) and the manufacturing sector (722), ministry data showed.
There were 150 companies in the support services sector implementing furlough programs, 90 in the wholesale and retail sector and 55 in the manufacturing sector — which were the top three sectors affected, the data showed.
Most of the firms implementing furlough programs are small businesses with workforces of fewer than 50 people.
These unpaid leave programs typically last less than three months and involve employees taking five to eight days of unpaid leave per month, the ministry said.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS