LAGGING BEHIND:The statistics agency said that unemployment data have yet to reflect the current economic slowdown indicated by recent data on exports

Taipei Times
Date: May 23, 2015
By: Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

The nation’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.63 percent last month, the lowest in 15 years for April, as companies increased headcounts and people dissatisfied with earlier jobs rejoined the labor force after receiving their lunar year-end bonuses, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.

The latest jobless figure marked a 0.28 percentage point decline from a year earlier and a 0.09 percentage point decline from March, the DGBAS said in a report, adding that unemployment after seasonal adjustments stood unchanged at 3.75 percent.

“A lagging economic indicator, the jobless rate has yet to reflect an ongoing economic slowdown indicated by disappointing export data,” DGBAS Deputy Director Lo Yi-ling (羅怡玲) said.     [FULL  STORY]