Jobless rate up in June but sets 23-year low

Taipei, July 24 (CNA) Taiwan's unemployment rate rose slightly from a month earlier to 3.49 percent in June but it still was the lowest level for the month in 23 years, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said Monday.

Data compiled by the DGBAS showed the jobless rate rising 0.03 percentage points from May to 3.49 percent in June after having fallen the previous two months, largely due to an increase in first time jobseekers as people graduate.

After seasonal adjustments, however, the June jobless rate was 3.45 percent, down 0.05 percentage points from a month earlier, the DGBAS said in a release presenting the data on Monday.

For the first half of 2023, the unemployment rate was 3.51 percent, down 0.15 percentage points from the previous year, while the labor participation rate was 59.17 percent, up 0.03 percentage points from a year earlier, the DGBAS said.

In June, the number of those who did not have a job rose 5,000, or 1.03 percent, from May to 417,000, and the number of those who were employed rose 11,000, or 0.09 percent, from a month earlier to about 11.52 million.

The labor participation rate was 59.17 percent, up 0.04 percentage points from May, the DGBAS said.

As new graduates jumped into the job market, the number of first time jobseekers rose 5,000 from a month earlier in June, while the number of those who lost jobs due to business downsizing and closures fell 1,000 from a month earlier, according to the DGBAS.

The months from June to August tend to see a spike in first-time jobseekers during the graduation season, which is why after seasonal adjustments the unemployment rate moved lower, suggesting that Taiwan's job market remained stable, the DGBAS said.

The unemployment rate before seasonal adjustments is expected to continue to rise in July and August before coming down in September, the DGBAS said.

Though unemployment was relatively flat in June, 19,000 more people worked fewer than 35 hours a week compared to a month earlier due to factors such as weaker business operations, bringing the total to 202,000 people.

By education level, the unemployment rate among those with a university degree stood at 4.80 percent, the highest among all educational levels.

The rate for individuals with a senior high school or junior high school education was 3.22 percent and 2.39 percent, respectively, according to DGBAS figures.

By age, the unemployment rate for those aged 20-24 in June was 12.03 percent because of the high concentration of first-time jobseekers in the age group, but it was only about half of that at 5.97 percent for those aged 25-29, the data showed.