People Bearing Master or Above Degrees See Lowest Jobless Rate of 3.03% in Taiwan in Jan.

Taipei, March 9, 2011 (CENS)--People with master and/or doctoral degrees recorded a jobless rate of only 3.03% in January, much lower than the average unemployment rate of 4.64% and also the lowest among all categories in terms of educational background, according to the statistics compiled by the Cabinet-level Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).

In January, the unemployment rate for those with four-year university education stood at 5.86%, compared to 3.55% for those with two-or-three-year college education, 4.88% for those graduated from vocational schools, 5.26% for senior high school graduates and 4.21% for those with junior high or below educational background.

The statistics showed that the population aged above 15 and with graduate school education reached 909,000 persons in January, with 628,000 persons employed, 20,000 unemployed, and remaining 261,000 persons withdrawing from the job market because of getting married, returning school for further study, or retiring from the jobs.

Of the employees with master and/or doctoral degrees, 13% took jobs as executives or managers, 50% as professionals or specialists; 27% as technicians or professional assistants; 7% as special event helpers and 2.2% as salespersons in financial service industry.

Although Taiwan has in recent months witnessed falling jobless rate, yet the average unemployment span hit a six-year high of 31 weeks. In January the unemployed population totaled 510,000 persons, and the number of those having remained jobless for more than 53 weeks stood at 90,000, compared to 140.000 staying unemployed for 27-52 weeks, and 280,000 for 1-26 weeks. .