Jobless rate down in September for Taiwan

2015/10/26

Taiwan’s unemployment rate dropped 0.07 of a percentage point year on year to 3.89 percent in September, the lowest in 15 years for the month, according to the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics Oct. 22.

DGBAS data revealed that the number of jobless fell to 454,000, down 4,000 or 0.87 percent from the year before, while those employed reached 11.21 million, up 0.56 percent.

“Despite the encouraging numbers, the monthly drop of 0.01 percentage point in unemployment is the smallest in seven years, a warning sign that the local economy is decelerating,” a DGBAS official said. “The monthly changes ranged from 0.08 to 0.17 of a percentage point between 2009 and 2014.”

In comparison, the country’s joblessness was higher than Hong Kong at 3.3 percent, Japan at 3.4 percent, Singapore at 2 percent and South Korea at 3.6 percent.

For the first nine months of the year, unemployment averaged 3.74 percent, down 0.25 of a percentage point to its best level for the period since 2000. The average job search time was 23.7 weeks.

Separately, the DGBAS released Taiwan’s August average wages for the industrial and services sectors.

Wages for the sectors’ 74.18 million workers averaged NT$44,882 (US$1,374) for the month, up 0.85 percent from 2014. Over the first eight months of the year, average pay packets were NT$50,633, up 3.24 percent to a new high for the period.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=238156&ctNode=2194&mp=9)