Taiwan April jobless rate at record, to rise further
Taiwan’s April seasonally
adjusted jobless rate rose to a record 5.77 percent as
manufacturing and financial sectors were hard hit in what the
island that is suffering from what may be its longest recession,
the government said on Friday. Like most of Asia, Taiwan’s unemployment rate has been
climbing steadily during the global downturn, with analysts
expecting the rise to persist in coming months as any economic
recovery will take time to filter through to the jobs market. In March, Taiwan’s jobless rate hit 5.72 percent.
“Job prospects across various industries have dimmed
tremendously. Unless the global financial market situation
improves, the outlook in the job market remains bleak,” said Sue
Ann Lee, an economist at Forecast Ltd in Singapore. “The uptrend in unemployment is still in sight,” Lee said. Some analysts expect the jobless rate in Taiwan, a key
supplier in the global technology chain, to peak at around 6
percent in late 2009. Taiwan has a total labour force of 10.882
million out of its 23 million population. “Our jobs market is undergoing severe times now,” said Huang
Jiann-jong, an official at the statistics agency, told a news
conference. “We’re still seeing a lot of company closures.” The state planning commission plans to keep the island’s
average jobless rate at 4.5 percent this year, up from 4.14
percent last year, while President Ma Ying-jeou this week said
the unadjusted jobless rate would not rise above 6 percent. Taiwan has been hard hit by an export slump, with its economy in the first quarter shrinking by a record 10.24 percent
from a year earlier, although analysts said the worst was over.
The government on Friday said Taiwan’s commercial sales in
April fell by an annual 9.5 percent, improving from a 12.2
percent decline, with analysts expecting closer trade ties with
China to help boost consumer spending. This week, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co
the world’s top contract chipmaker, said it would
rehire hundreds of laid-off employees after revenue recovered,
although most companies are still keeping their workforce trim. “Overall, the labour market remains fragile and we expect
the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate will ultimately hit
the 6 percent ceiling,” Christopher Wong from HSBC said.