RELATIVELY STABLE: For all of last year, the rate was under 3.73 percent, just 0.02 percent higher than the previous year, even though firms were affected by the US-China trade dispute

Taipei Times
.Date: Jan 23, 2020
By: Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

The unemployment rate last month fell slightly to 3.67 percent, a 0.06 percentage points less than a month earlier, as fewer people quit or lost jobs due to downsizing or closures, the Directorate-General of Accounting, Budget and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.

After seasonal adjustments, the rate shed 1 percentage point to 3.72 percent, affirming a stable job market, Census Department Deputy Director Pan Ning-hsin (潘寧馨) told a media briefing.

The rate last month weakened from 0.04 to 0.12 percentage points for the past decade, and last year proved no exception, thanks to an increase in seasonal and temporary hiring before the year-end, Pan said.

For the whole of last year, the jobless rate stood at 3.73 percent, up 0.02 percentage points from a year earlier, as many local firms were affected by a US-China trade dispute, the effects of which began to show in the second half of 2018, Pan said.    [FULL  STORY]