Taiwan's October jobless rate falls to 24-year low

Taipei, Nov. 22 (CNA) Taiwan's unemployment rate in October stood at 3.4 percent, the lowest for the month in 24 years, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting, and Statistics (DGBAS) reported on Friday.

The unemployment rate decreased by 0.03 percentage points from September, extending the downward trend that started that month as new graduates gradually entered the job market, the DGBAS noted.

According to the DGBAS, the unemployment rate typically rises during the graduation period from June to August and then falls in September.

Tan Wen-ling (譚文玲), deputy director of the DGBAS' Census Department, said that Taiwan's labor market was moving in a positive direction, with the year-end consumption peak season expected to help further lower the unemployment rate in November and December.

After seasonal adjustments, the unemployment rate for October remained unchanged from September at 3.38 percent.

For comparison, seasonally adjusted unemployment rates in major countries for October were 4.1 percent in the United States, 6.5 percent in Canada, and 2.7 percent in South Korea.

The number of unemployed persons was 408,000 in October, a decrease of4,000 (0.95 percent) and 3,000 (0.55 percent) from the previous month and that of the previous year, respectively, according to data released by the DGBAS on Friday.

The data also showed that the unemployment rate in Taiwan for those aged 15-19 is 9.12 percent, for those aged 20-24 it is 11.84 percent, for those aged 25-29 it is 6.07 percent, and for those aged 30-34 it is 3.44 percent.

Commenting on these figures, the DGBAS explained that the 15-24 age group, largely made up of first-time job seekers, tends to have a higher unemployment rate, which decreases as job conditions stabilize.