The number of workers hired in the manufacturing and service sectors in February edged down 0.12 percent, or by 9,000 people, as firms shed headcount to cope with a slow business season, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
The overall number of employees stood at 8.16 million, with hotels and restaurants cutting 4,000 staff members, and manufacturers letting go 3,000, DGBAS said.
Compared with a year earlier, the pool grew by 0.25 percent, or an addition of 21,000 workers, as many employers emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, it said.
Photo: CNA
It is unclear if the decline in workers had to do with seasonal or economic factors, DGBAS Census Department Deputy Director Chen Hui-hsin (陳惠欣) said, adding that manufacturers tended to hire fewer workers in February and increased their staff in the following month.
Employee gains last month could have ranged from 1,000 to 7,000, although conclusions cannot be reached until official data is released, Chen said.
Overtime hours, another gauge of industry performance, fell by 0.4 hours per day in February from a year earlier, shrinking eight months in a row, DGBAS data showed.
The manufacturing sector is the backbone of Taiwan’s export-oriented economy, with the nation home to the world’s largest suppliers of electronics used in smartphones, notebook computers, wearables, televisions and vehicles.
Employers usually cut overtime hours before exploring other measures to control personnel costs during downturns, Chen said.
The accession rate, which measures the number of new workers added to payrolls, rose 0.08 percentage points year-on-year to 2.15 percent, DGBAS said.
The dropout rate, which reflects the number of workers who exit the job market, declined 0.09 percentage points to 2.27 percent, it added.
Average monthly take-home pay in February grew 2.51 percent year-on-year to NT$45,044, but dropped 0.71 percent from January, it said.
Total monthly wages — including performance-based commissions, bonuses and overtime compensation — advanced by 7.14 percent to NT$52,705, as the tourism sector emerged from COVID-19 restrictions, it said.
In the first two months, average take-home pay gained 2.39 percent to NT$45,206, but contracted 0.34 percent after factoring in higher inflation, Chen said.
Taiwanese employees on average received NT$75,688, or 1.63 months of salary, for year-end bonuses this year, led by 3.39 months at financial and insurance companies and 2.12 months at property-related companies, DGBAS said.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors