Taiwan's June jobless rate rises to 3.34% as graduates enter labor market

Taipei, July 22 (CNA) Taiwan's unemployment rate rose to 3.34 percent in June, ending two straight months of declines as new graduates entered the labor market, according to data released Wednesday by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).

The June jobless rate was up 0.07 percentage points from May but down 0.02 percentage points from a year earlier, remaining the lowest for the month in 26 years.

After seasonal adjustment, the unemployment rate edged up 0.01 percentage points to 3.33 percent, DGBAS data showed.

The number of unemployed rose by 9,000, or 2.26 percent, from a month earlier to 402,000.

The increase was mainly driven by 5,000 more first-time job seekers entering the labor market, while the number of people who became unemployed after voluntarily leaving their jobs rose by 2,000, the DGBAS said.

DGBAS Census Department Deputy Director Tan Wen-ling (譚文玲) said the rise was largely seasonal, as June marks the start of the annual graduation season.

The jobless rate is expected to continue climbing in July and August as more graduates enter the labor market before easing in September, when many graduates find jobs and student part-time workers return to school, Tan said.

Despite the seasonal uptick in unemployment, employment and the labor force participation rate also increased in June, while the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose only slightly, indicating the labor market remained stable, Tan said.

In the first half of the year, the average unemployment rate stood at 3.31 percent, down 0.02 percentage points from a year earlier and the lowest from January to June in 26 years.