The unemployment rate last month eased to 3.43 percent, dropping 0.05 percentage points from one month earlier, as fewer workers quit and first-time jobseekers found positions, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
The latest reading marked a 24-year low for the same month and reversed three straight months of increases linked to the graduation season, Census Department Deputy Director Tan Wen-ling (譚文玲) said.
“The jobless figure should moderate further this month based on past seasonality and in the absence of surprises,” Tan told a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: CNA
The overall number of jobless people stood at 412,000, down 7,000 people from August, as first-time jobseekers shrank by 2,000 and people who quit declined by 4,000, the statistics agency’s monthly report showed.
The employed population also decreased by 9,000 to 11.6 million after summer workers exited the workforce, it said.
By sector breakdown, the payrolls of service providers were down 11,000 people, while the industrial sector hired 3,000 more, it said.
The changes related to the end of summer jobs at hospitality and recreational facilities, while the arrival of the high season for technology products benefitted local suppliers of electronic components, Tan said.
However, the unemployment rate after seasonal adjustments stood at 3.38 percent, up 0.02 percentage points for the second consecutive month to a new five-month high, while people who lost work to business downsizing and closures climbed to 101,000, the DGBAS said.
Tan said both rates were hovering within healthy territory, despite their negative cyclical movements.
“I fail to see any particular sector that is struggling based on the figures,” Tan said.
By educational breakdown, people with a university diploma had the highest unemployment rate at 4.51 percent, followed by people with high-school education at 3.28 percent, and people with a graduate degree at 2.87 percent, the agency said.
People with junior high school and lower education had the lowest jobless rate of 2.13 percent, it said.
At the same time, people aged 20 to 24 had the highest unemployment rate of 12.14 percent, followed by the 15-to-19 bracket at 9.88 percent, and people aged 25 to 29 at 6.14 percent. People aged between 30 and 64 had relatively low jobless rates of between 3.4 percent and 2.16 percent, the agency said.
The unemployment period averaged 20.9 weeks, lengthening by one week from one month earlier, it said.
The duration was 18.4 weeks for first-time jobseekers and 21.6 weeks for all other groups, it added.
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