The number of workers on formal unpaid leave programs fell in the past week as a tire maker ended its program, but more than 10,000 people were still on the list, the Ministry of Labor (MOL) said yesterday.
Data released by the ministry showed the number of workers on furlough fell to 10,330 as of July 31, down 245 from the previous tally as of July 23.
Despite the fall in furloughed workers, the number of employers that filed unpaid leave programs with the ministry rose to 654, up 29 from a week earlier.
Photo: CNA
Department of Labor Standards and Equal Employment Director Huang Wei-chen (黃維琛) said the big change over the past week was a major tire company ending its furlough plan by having 600 workers return to its production lines full-time.
Huang said the tire plant, which had an unpaid leave program in place for more than a month, saw orders stabilize and decided to end the plan at the end of last month.
Still, the manufacturing sector generally continued to feel the impact from weakening global demand, the ministry said.
Huang said two machine tool makers reported placing about 100 and 80 workers on furlough at the end of last month because of a fall in export orders.
As of July 31, the number of furloughed workers in the manufacturing sector fell 291 during the week to 8,130, but that still accounted for almost 80 percent of the total workers on formal furlough programs in Taiwan, Huang said.
More than 5,000 of them were in the metal and electric machine industries, he said.
With domestic demand strong in the post-COVID-19 era, the service sector stayed relatively stable in terms of furloughed workers, ministry data showed.
There were 978 workers on unpaid leave in the retail and wholesale sectors, up from 967 a week earlier, and 577 workers on unpaid leave in the support service industry, compromised mostly of travel agencies, up from 566 a week earlier, the data showed.
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