A rebounding manufacturing sector brought the number of workers on formal unpaid leave programs in Taiwan below 10,000 as of Thursday, the Ministry of Labor said yesterday.
Data compiled by the ministry showed the number of workers on unpaid leave programs dropped from 10,348 to 9,146 between the 30th last month and Thursday.
Meanwhile, 60 firms brought furloughed employees back to work, reducing the number of employers with formal unpaid leave programs in place to 351, the ministry said.
Photo: CNA
Over 85 percent of those brought back from furlough programs worked in the export-oriented manufacturing sector, it said.
Speaking with reporters, the ministry’s Labor Conditions and Equal Employment Division deputy head Wang Chin-jung (王金蓉) said that firms involved in metals and electric machinery, as well as light manufacturing, had seen their order books rebound following a period of weak global demand.
The number of furloughed employees in the metals and electric machinery industry fell by 842, most of whom worked for machine tool firms and molding suppliers, Wang said.
Meanwhile, 144 furloughed light industry workers were brought back from unpaid leave programs, she said.
Despite the rebound, the manufacturing sector accounted for about 90 percent of those on furlough programs, the ministry said.
According to the ministry, 8,247 of the 9,146 employees still on formal unpaid leave programs worked in manufacturing.
The sector also accounted for 199 of the 351 firms with furlough schemes in place, down from 232.
With private consumption solid in the post-COVID-19 era, the service sector job market remained relatively stable, it said.
Between the 30th last month and Thursday, the number of furloughed retail and wholesale industry workers fell to 732 from 880, it said.
The number of workers placed on unpaid leave in the warehousing and logistics lodging industry stayed at two, while the figure in the lodging and food and beverage industry fell to two from three, the ministry said.
In addition, the number of furloughed workers in the support service industry, which is comprised of travel agencies, rose to 61 as of Thursday, up from 53 as of the 30th last month, the ministry said.
The ministry updates its furloughed worker data on the 1st, 8th, 16th and 24th of every month, and reports the number of employees placed on furlough by companies registered with the ministry.
Most firms implementing furlough programs are small enterprises that employ fewer than 50 people, it said.
Unpaid leave programs typically last for less than three months, with employees taking five to eight days of unpaid leave per month, it said.
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