Jobless rate hits 6-year low: DGBAS

This article was published by the Macroview Weekly on June 27, 2007. It reports that the average unemployment rate in Taiwan in the first five months of 2007 hit a new low of 3.84 percent compared with the same period during the last six years.

According to officials of the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, the May 2007 unemployment rate stood at 3.87 percent, an increase of 0.04 percentage points over April, with the number of unemployed registering 413,000.

The average jobless rate in the first five months hit a six-year low compared with the unemployment rate of 5.08 percent in the first five months of 2002, 5.04 percent in 203, 4.47 percent in 2004, 4.13 percent in 2005 and 3.84 percent in 2006.

The number of employed totalled 10.26 million in May 2007, up 15,000 from April, or 196,000 over the same month of 2006.

In terms of sectors, the number of employed during the first five months in the service and industrial sectors increased by 122,000 and 96,000, respectively, over the same period of 2006, while that of those employed in the agricultural sector dropped by 20,000.

According to DGBAS officials, the non-labor force totalled 7.68 million in May 2007, with those studying or preparing for exams reaching 2.24 million, housekeepers totalling 2.38 million, and elderly and physical or mentally challenged people totalling 2.13 million.