TAIPEI: The nation’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.62 percent last month, the lowest in 15 years for May, as companies kept their headcount relatively steady despite a modest increase in the number of people who quit because of job dissatisfaction, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
However, the expected influx of college graduates and part-time jobseekers could raise the unemployment reading slightly this month and through the entire summer vacation, the statistics agency said.
The latest unemployment figure marked a decline of 0.23 percentage point from a year earlier and 0.01 percentage point from the level reported in April, the DGBAS said in a report.
Unemployment after seasonal adjustments stood unchanged at 3.75 percent for three months in a row, the report said, reaffirming a stable job market.
OUT OF WORK
The jobless population stood at 420,000 last month, a decrease of 1,000 from April, because the number of people who lost their jobs due to business closures or seasonal factors dropped by 3,000 and first-time jobseekers fell by 2,000, the report said.
Meanwhile, the number of people who quit their jobs increased by 2,000, the report said.
“The stable economy lends support to the job market,” DGBAS Deputy Director Lo Yi-ling said.
Low unemployment is favorable for consumer spending and GDP growth this year, after exports have proven softer than expected, different research institutes have said.
With the advent of the summer vacation, the jobless reading may rise by between 0.2 and 0.4 percentage point between June and August, as college graduates and part-time job seekers enter the market, Lo said based on past experience.
By education breakdown, unemployment was highest among people with a university degree or higher at 4.47 percent, followed by college graduates at 3.85 percent and high-school graduates at 3.86 percent, the report said.
The 15-to-24 age group had the highest unemployment rate at 11.18 percent, compared with 3.85 percent for the 25-to-44 age group and 1.92 percent for the 45-to-64 bracket, the report said.
Taiwan lagged behind major trade rivals in unemployment as the rate in Hong Kong was 3.2 percent, 1.8 percent in Singapore and 3.3 percent in Japan. South Korea had a jobless rate of 3.7 percent.
WAGES UP
Regular monthly wages averaged NT$38,594 in April, up 1.4 percent from a year earlier, the DGBAS said in a separate report.
Adding non-regular compensation, the average monthly wage rose to NT$43,343 in April, an increase of 0.76 percent from a year earlier, the report said.
For the first four months of the year, take-home wages grew 1.53 percent year-on-year to NT$38,452, a record high, the DGBAS said, adding that wage levels rose 2.2 percent after adjustment for deflation.
