STILL STABLE: Workers in the manufacturing sector are most susceptible to export volatility, but the total last year rose 0.46 percent, the DGBAS said

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 23, 2019
By: Kao Shih-ching  /  Staff reporter

The labor market was stable last month despite a slowdown in exports and GDP growth, with the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remaining flat from the past 12 months, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.

The unemployment rate rose to 3.72 percent last month from 3.64 percent in January, as more people quit and temporary contracts were terminated ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday last month.

After seasonal adjustments, the unemployment gauge was 3.71 percent, down slightly from 3.72 percent recorded in January, the agency said.

“Given that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has hovered between 3.69 and 3.73 percent in the past 12 months, we can say that the labor market has remained stable,” DGBAS Deputy Director Pan Ning-hsin (潘寧馨) told a news conference in Taipei.    [FULL  STORY]