Taiwan's jobless rate declined to 5.65% in February

The seasonally adjusted rate fell to 5.65 percent from 5.73 percent in January, the statistics bureau said today in Taipei. That compares with a median estimate of 5.67 percent in a Bloomberg News survey of seven economists.

President Ma Ying-jeou is negotiating a trade accord with China that would cut import duties on Taiwanese goods in the world's fastest-growing major economy and help cement the island's recovery. Taiwan exited its deepest recession on record in the fourth quarter and Ma said last month the proposed accord will attract foreign investment and create jobs.

“The steady recovery in the economy is helping the job market,” said Tony Phoo, a Taipei-based economist at Standard Chartered Plc. “We are seeing mass hiring plans from both the public sector and the private sector recently, so the job rate will definitely fall from last year's record-high level.”

The number of unemployed people declined to 623,000 in February from 631,000 in January. Without adjusting for seasonal factors, Taiwan's jobless rate was 5.76 percent compared with 5.68 percent in January.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the island's biggest company by market value, said March 11 it will hire 2,400 full-time employees to replace contract workers, in addition to the 3,000 engineers it plans to take on this year.

AU Optronics Corp., the island's second-largest maker of liquid-crystal displays, said last week it plans to build two plants in central Taiwan to make panels for televisions after announcing plans to hire 2,500 new employees this year.

Taiwan's export orders, an indication of shipments in the next one to three months, rose 36.25 percent in February, the fifth consecutive monthly increase, as the global recovery fueled demand for computers, mobile phones and television screens, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said last week.

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