Number of furloughed workers in Taiwan continues to drop

This was disclosed by the Ministry of Labour (MOL), which said the number of workers who agreed to take unpaid leave fell to 24,353 as of November 7, down by 5,635 from the last report released on November 1.

MOL’s data also showed that the number of companies with furlough programmes in place also fell by 332 from a week earlier to 2,884.

Huang Wei-chen, director of the MOL’s Department of Labour Standards and Equal Employment, said the latest economic stimulus measures and the 2021 Taipei International Travel Fair (ITF) have boosted domestic demand and supported food/beverage and lodging businesses.

The government issued NT$5,000 spending vouchers to eligible residents which were made available from October 8, as well as similar vouchers with different values by several government agencies, leading to a purchasing spree among consumers.

The four-day ITF, which ended on Sunday, saw many hotels and restaurants offering discounts to boost the domestic tourism market, as Taiwan still maintains border restrictions to control the number of COVID-19 cases.

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The growing domestic demand led to the number of furloughed workers in the lodging and food/beverage industry dropping by 2,532 in one week to 7,657 as of November 7, while that in the lodging and food/beverage industry fell from 511 to 389 in one week, the MOL said, according to Focus Taiwan.