Taiwanese worked more hours than people in all but three other countries in the world last year, Ministry of Labor data showed.
Singapore placed first in average hours worked among the 40 economies surveyed, with an average of 2,288 hours per worker last year, the data showed.
The city-state was followed by Colombia with 2,172 hours — based on 2019 data — and Mexico with 2,124 hours, it showed.
Taiwan came in fourth, with 2,021 hours, it showed.
South Korean workers clocked the third-most hours in Asia, with 1,908 hours, followed by Japan with 1,598 hours, it showed.
However, compared with 2019, the survey found a notable decrease in average hours worked in all surveyed countries.
Department of Labor Standards and Equal Employment Deputy Director Huang Wei-chen (黃維琛) said that the trend was due mainly to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent disease prevention measures.
The nation’s high number was influenced by part-time workers being factored in to the calculation, he said.
The ministry included part-time workers because of their relatively small share in the nation’s workforce of 3.7 percent, Huang said.
However, their share last year increased from 3.2 percent in 2019, as sectors of the economy that typically offer part-time work, such as food delivery, gained traction, he said.
A global part-time work trend might also have been due to pressure on workers amid the pandemic, Huang said.
Unemployed rose in most of the surveyed countries, with the exception of Italy and France, where the jobless rate dropped 0.8 percentage points and 0.4 percentage points respectively, he said.
Taiwan’s increase in the unemployment rate was the lowest among the countries, at 0.1 percentage points, Huang said.
Job markets in Asian countries were overall sluggish, while the US and Canada posted the largest jobless rate rises, at 4.4 percentage points and 3.8 percentage points respectively, he said.
Taiwan’s per capita GDP was US$28,371, up 9.4 percent from 2019, the data showed.
China was the only other country that posted an increase in per capita GDP, at 2.8 percent, while the figure in all other surveyed countries fell, it showed.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
Chinese spouse and influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China videos that threaten national security, the National Immigration Agency confirmed today. Guan Guan has said many controversial statements in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” and expressing hope for expedited reunification. The agency last year received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification. After verifying the reports, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and explain her actions. Guan
RSS