Taiwan's Jobless Rate Edges up to 4.09% in February

With the usual trend to look for better jobs after Chinese New Year, Taiwan's jobless rate rose 0.7 of a percentage point from a month earlier to 4.09% in February, yet down  0.15 of a percentage point from a year earlier, a new low for the month since the global financial tsunami in 2009, according to the statistics released by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).

In the same month the unemployed population increased 8,000 persons from the previous month to 470,000 persons, of which 6,000 persons quit due to job dissatisfaction.

The jobless rate among 25-29 year olds stood at a high of 7% and that of the 20-24 group even higher at 13.38%, more than triple of the average.

Y. L. Lo, deputy director of the DGBAS' Department of Census, indicates that Taiwan's average unemployment rate hit a new high of 5.85% in 2009, which remained above 5% in the following year. However, the jobless rate sharply fell to 4.39% in 2011 and has since edged downward to a new low of 4.18% in 2013, then to 4.09% in February of this year.

Lo says the unemployment rate will keep dropping in March and foresees the full-year rate to be below 4%.

Thanks to year-end bonus, the average pay of Taiwan's employees hit a record high of NT$88,000 (US$2,933.3) in January and that of employees in the financial & insurance sector was the highest at NT$200,000 (US$6,666.6). The corresponding figure for employees in the IT & telecom, broadcasting & communications, and tech service sectors was about NT$100,000 (US$3,333.3), also much higher than the average.

In the same month the average monthly pay of all employees averaged NT$37,900 (US$1,263.3), edging up 0.31% from a month earlier and up 1.21% from a year earlier. (JL)