The number of workers on furlough programs in Taiwan dropped by 983 over the past week as more businesses brought back staff from unpaid leave, the Ministry of Labor said yesterday.
The number of workers on furlough programs dropped from 18,163 on Thursday last week to 17,180 yesterday, while the number of companies implementing unpaid leave programs fell by 173 to 2,525, ministry data showed.
Department of Labor Standards and Equal Employment Director Huang Wei-chen (黃維琛) said that some companies in sectors driven by local demand have begun bringing back staff from unpaid leave.
Photo: CNA
Citing the support services industry as an example, Huang said that a large travel agency had its last 52 furloughed employees return to work, while the number of furloughed people in the accommodation and catering sector also fell.
In the transportation industry, two airlines that mainly provide flight services to Southeast Asia ended furlough programs following a rebound in passenger volumes, he said.
Although the number of airline ground staff on unpaid leave did not decrease over the past week, Huang said he expects the situation to improve early next year.
Fewer companies in the manufacturing sector implemented unpaid leave programs over the past week, although the number of workers on furlough increased slightly, the ministry said.
The increase was particularly evident in the machine tool industry, Huang said, without elaborating.
According to the latest figures, the number of furloughed workers in the manufacturing industry was 5,422, while the number of companies with unpaid leave programs was 273.
The figures represent a slight deterioration from Thursday last week, when 5,386 people in the manufacturing sector were on unpaid leave and the number of companies implementing such programs was 276.
The weekly furlough data came after government data last week showed that Taiwan’s factory activity shrank for a fifth straight month last month due to inventory corrections and sluggish demand.
The manufacturing purchasing managers’ index last month shed 1.5 points to 43.9, well below the 50-point mark separating growth from contraction and the lowest since the launch of the survey in July 2012, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said.
The weak manufacturing activity gauge could persist until the impact of global monetary tightening fades, likely by the end of next year, CIER economists said.
Additional reporting by Crystal Hsu
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