Taiwan’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate improved to 3.39% in January 2024, down from 3.60% in January 2023, according to data from the Directorate General of Budget Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the unemployment rate declined month-on-month by 0.02% to 3.31% in January. Compared with that of the previous year, the unemployment rate declined by 0.19% in January.

The number of unemployed persons was 397,000 in January, a decrease of 2,000 (-0.49%) and 19,000 (-4.63%) from the previous month and that of the previous year, respectively.

Meanwhile, total employment increased by 116,000 (+1.01%) to 11,587,000 when compared with that of the previous year. When compared to December 2023, total employment increased by 4,000 (+0.03%) in January.

When compared with that of the previous year, employment in agriculture sector decreased by 26,000 (-4.97%); by contrast, the industry sector and the services sector increased by 2,000 (0.07%) and 140,000 (2.02%), respectively.

Taiwan’s labour force participation rate declined over the month by 0.01% to 59.25% in January; however, it rose by 0.08% from that of the previous year.