FEWER CLOSURES: Last month’s number marked the lowest for December in 22 years while the whole-year rate of 3.67 percent for 2022 was also the lowest over that periodBy Crystal Hsu and Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporters 《TAIPEI TIMES》Unemployment rate falls to 3.52 percent - 焦點 - - 趣味新聞網

A sign advertising job openings is pictured outside a store in Taipei’s Yongkang commercial area yesterday. Photo: CNA

FEWER CLOSURES: Last month’s number marked the lowest for December in 22 years, while the whole-year rate of 3.67 percent for 2022 was also the lowest over that period

By Crystal Hsu and Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporters

The unemployment rate last month dropped a fractional 0.09 percentage points to 3.52 percent, as fewer people quit or lost their jobs due to business downsizing or closures, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics （DGBAS） said yesterday.

The jobless rate was the lowest December figure in 22 years, thanks mainly to a fast recovery in private consumption after the government eased border controls and other COVID-19 restrictions.

The rate after seasonal adjustments shed 0.03 percentage points to 3.61 percent, signaling a stable job market, DGBAS Census Department Deputy Director Chen Hui-hsin （陳惠欣） said.

Chen said that 418,000 people were registered as unemployed, a 2.34 percent drop from November, as the number of people who lost their jobs due to business downsizing and closures fell by 4,000, while the number of people who quit fell by 2,000.

The average unemployment period excluding the 7,000 people who had been jobless for more than a year increased by 0.7 weeks to 22.4 weeks, the agency said.

For the whole of last year, the unemployment rate fell 0.28 percentage points to 3.67 percent, also the lowest in 22 years, Chen said.

Last month, people with university degrees had the highest jobless rate of 5.24 percent, followed by people with high-school degrees at 3.34 percent, people with graduate degrees at 2.77 percent and people with junior-high school degrees at 2.36 percent, the agency said.

By demographic breakdown, people aged 20 to 24 had the highest unemployment rate of 12.36 percent, followed by the 15-to-19 age bracket at 8.72 percent, the 25-to-29 bracket at 6.13 percent and the 30-to-34 bracket at 3.7 percent, it said.

People aged 45 or older had the lowest jobless rate of 2.26 percent, it added.

Meanwhile, people’s confidence in the economy and stock market this month continued to retreat amid ongoing macroeconomic headwinds and geopolitical concerns, a Cathay Financial Holding Co （國泰金控） survey released yesterday showed.

About 45 percent of 19,962 people surveyed expected the TAIEX to fall below 12,000 points in the first half of this year, and 20 percent forecast a dip to between 12,000 and 13,000 points, while 35 percent said the index would not fall below 13,000 points, the survey showed.

While expectations diverged on the TAIEX’s peak this year, respondents were generally much more pessimistic about Taiwanese equities than a month earlier, the survey showed.

People also turned more conservative about economic growth this year, with about 52 percent of respondents saying the economy would worsen over the next six months and only 23 percent expecting improvement.

Respondents expected an annual GDP growth of 2.2 percent this year, lower than the 2.75 percent DGBAS estimate, Cathay Financial said.

While the DGBAS estimated that inflation would ease to 1.86 percent this year, Cathay Financial’s survey showed that people expected inflation of about 2.3 percent.

With dampening sentiment toward the economy, the index assessing big-ticket spending willingness fell to minus-2.5 from 9.5 a month earlier, and the index gauging plans to buy homes fell from minus-53.6 to minus-58, the survey found.

The survey was conducted online from Jan. 1 to 7 among clients of Cathay Financial subsidiaries Cathay Life Insurance Co （國泰人壽） and Cathay United Bank （國泰世華銀行）.

新聞來源： TAIPEI TIMES

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