Taipei, May 3 (CNA) The labor force participation rate of women in March remained at 50.0 percent for the ninth consecutive month in Taiwan, according to statistics published by the government Thursday.

However, the participation rate of men was higher, standing at 66.7 percent, the figures from the Directorate-General of Budget Accounting and Statistics showed.

The total number of people in the labor force was 11.27 million people in March, with a labor force participation rate of 58.2 percent.

The female workforce constituted 4.75 million people in March, an increase of 2.1 percent from the same period in 2011.

The male workforce totaled 6.05 million, a slight increase of 1.3 percent compared with the same period last year.

The unemployment rate among women in March was 3.8 percent, compared with 4.5 percent among men.

Last year, Taiwan women employees accounted for 43.9 percent (4.70 million) of the total number of people on payroll, which was higher than in neighboring countries such as Japan (42.2 percent) and South Korea (41.6 percent).

However, Taiwan was still behind countries like Norway (47.5 percent), the United States (46.9 percent) and the United Kingdom (46.4 percent) in terms of the percentage of females on payroll, the report showed.

Family duties were still cited as the most common reason why women chose not to join the workforce in 2011, followed by old age, and the pursuit of higher education, according to government statistics.

(By Lin Hui-chun and C.J. Lin)
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