Taiwan's jobless rate hit 42-month low of 4.09% in Dec. 2004

Taipei, Jan. 25, 2005 (CENS)--Taiwan's jobless rate dropped to 4.09% in December of 2004, the lowest in three and a half years, according to the statistics released by the Cabinet-level Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).

The same statistics showed that the average jobless rate for 2004 stood at 4.44%, lower than the target of 4.5% set by the Council for Economic Planning & Development (CEPD).

Last year, the employed population posted an average increase of 213,000 from one year earlier, the highest growth of its kind since 1993, with the service sector recording an increase of 155,000 and the industrial sector 112,000. However, the employees in the agricultural sector declined by some 600,000 last year. For the year.

Liu Pei-chen, a senior official at DGBAS, noted that the jobless rate has kept declining since the second half of 2004, with the unemployed population dropping to 420,000 at the end of the year, down about 100,000 from a previous peak of 520,000. Yet, the unemployment influenced the livelihood of some 850,000 persons during the period, and blue-collar workers posted a relatively higher unemployment rate of near 5%. Nevertheless, Liu still foresaw better climate for the domestic job market this year.