Taiwan’s unemployment rate falls to 3.96% in September

Data from the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) showed that the overall unemployment rate for September fell 0.28 percentage point month-on-month to 3.96%, the lowest since April, when it was 3.64%.

After seasonal adjustments, September’s unemployment rate was 3.92%, down 0.16 percentage point from a month earlier. The jobless rate in the first nine months this year averaged 4.04%, up 0.16 percentage point year-on-year, according to DGBAS. The number of jobless individuals in September fell by 34,000 or 6.71% to 471,000.

Meanwhile, the number of people employed in September rose by 18,000 or 0.16%, from a month earlier to about 11.42 million, and the labour participation rate was 58.93%, down 0.05 percentage point from August.

Chen Hui-hsin, deputy director of the DGBAS census department, said Taiwan’s job market had been hit in May and June by a serious COVID-19 outbreak, but the situation has been improving, giving a boost to business activity, and lifting employment. The ability of first-time jobseekers to find jobs also improved the employment figures.

Meanwhile, in September, the number of individuals who lost jobs due to businesses downsizing or closing fell by 17,000 month-on-month, and the number of first-time jobseekers also dropped by 8,000, the DGBAS said.

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Chen said the employment environment in Taiwan is expected to continue to improve in the fourth quarter as the local economy recovers, but added that developments in the COVID-19 situation at home and abroad are still sources of economic uncertainty, according to Focus Taiwan.