The unemployment rate in Taiwan rose to a nine-month high of 3.78 percent in July amid the seasonal influx of first-time job seekers and people looking for summer work, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said Monday.

The figure was 0.04 percentage points higher than in June.

The number of people unemployed reached 448,000 in July, up 6,000, or 1.33 percent from a month earlier, with 8,000 of those newly registered as unemployed being first-time job seekers, according to the government’s top statistics agency.

It was the third consecutive month the agency cited the seasonal factor of new graduates entering the job market as a reason for the rise of the unemployment rate.

Based on past data, the August figure is expected to rise by 0.05-0.07 percentage points for the same reason, said DGBAS Census Department Deputy Director Chen Hui-hsin (???).

Sings of improving job market

Meanwhile, the seasonally adjusted jobless rate in July dropped to 3.68 percent, 0.05 percentage points lower than June, and the same as the figure in April, when Taiwan saw a sharp spike in the number of daily new domestic COVID-19 case, which jumped from above 100 to over 15,000 per day, Chen said.

Chen also pointed to a drop of 1,000 in the number of people who lost their jobs because of downsizing or closures of local businesses’ operations from a month earlier, saying the job market is expected to further improve.

Taiwan previously saw a monthly increase of 8,000 in May and another 3,000 in June due to businesses scaling back operations, according to DGBAS data.

The number of employed people rose by 25,000 to 11,397,000 in July, up 0.22 percent from June, while the labor participation rate rose by 0.16 percentage points to 59.28 percent, DBGAS data showed.

The local service sector accounted for a large part of the expanded labor force, with the lodging, food and beverage businesses adding 5,000 new employees, arts, entertainment and leisure businesses 2,000, wholesalers and retailers 1,000, according to the DBGAS.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel