The unemployment rate in Taiwan fell for the third consecutive month in November to 3.61 percent as more new graduates landed a job, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said Thursday.

According to DGBAS data, the jobless rate dropped 0.03 percentage points from October. However, after seasonal adjustments the rate was 3.64 percent, unchanged from the month before, the data showed.

In November, the number of unemployed in Taiwan fell by 3,000, or 0.69 percent, from a month earlier to 428,000, which represented a drop of 8,000, or 1.86 percent, year-on-year, the DGBAS data indicated.

The unemployment rate typically rises during the graduation season from June to August, but drops thereafter as first-time jobseekers gradually found a job, DGBAS Census Department Deputy Director Chen Hui-hsin (???) said.

The jobless rate for November was the lowest in 10 months, signaling a stable job market, Chen said, adding that the number of employed also rose by 20,000 over the previous month to 11.43 million.

The majority of new hires entered the service industry, while the industrial sector saw its workforce drop by 1,000 in November, she added.

Employment in the service industry has seen a dramatic improvement from the weakness caused by the COVID-19 outbreak since May, Chen said.

The upcoming holiday season could help drive up manpower demand in the service industry, the DGBAS official said, but also added that amid the cooling global economy and the slowdown of Taiwan’s export momentum, the domestic labor market will need to be watched carefully in the coming months.

The November jobless rate for Canada was 5.1 percent, Hong Kong 3.7 percent, the United States 3.7 percent and South Korea 2.9 percent.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel