STAGNANT WAGES:Average earnings rose 1.37 percent in the first eight months of the year, but a 1.38 percent increase in inflation erased gains in purchasing power

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 25, 2016
By: Staff writer, with CNA

The unemployment rate last month declined 0.09 percentage points from August to 3.99 percent, although it rose 0.10 percentage points from the same period last year, government figures released yesterday showed.

After seasonal adjustments, the jobless rate declined 0.02 percentage points to 3.93 percent last month, due to a drop in first-time jobseekers, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said.

That means 469,000 people were out of work, a decrease of 11,000 compared with August, the agency said.

The jobless rate tends to rise in July and August because of the entry to the job market of new university graduates.     [FULL  STORY]