Jobless rate hits 31-year high of 5.75% in Feb.

The number of people that are out of work topped 624,000 last month, also marking a 31-year high and up 46,000 from January.

Of the jobless population in February, up to 329,000 people became unemployed due to the shutdowns of companies and plants, also a record high and representing an increase of 38,000 over January, the same tallies indicated.

Meanwhile, of the unemployed people in February, 138,000 were aged between 45 and 64, yet another record high according to the DGBAS, which added that the figure deserves special attention as joblessness -- especially if it is involuntary -- among middle-aged and senior workers can have a greater impact on families and society than unemployment among younger people.

Over the past six months, the number of jobless people has surged by a total of 198,000.

Meanwhile, the number of people affected by unemployment reached 1.36 million, also a new high and showing the 11th consecutive monthly rise, the DGBAS said.

At a press conference held yesterday afternoon, Huang Chien-chung, a DGBAS official in charge of census and sampling surveys, said that the jobless rate for February would have reached over 6.1 percent if the government had not hired an extra 77,000 employees starting last November.

Huang said that other measures implemented by the government to stabilize the job market, including offering short-term employment and expanding domestic demand, also prevented the unemployment rate from climbing even further.

In addition, the February unemployment increase rate -- a month-on-month increase of 0.44 of a percentage point -- was a sharp rise compared to the level posted in January, which saw a rise of 0.28 of a percentage point over last December's level, according to Huang.

He attributed the rise to the recession, as well as to the end of temporary jobs over the Chinese New Year period.

The number of employed workers in Taiwan totaled 10.22 million in February, representing a decline of 125,000 or 1.21 percent from February 2008, for the largest annual drop for the same month since 1991, Huang continued, adding that the figures indicate that the growth dynamic of the overall workforce has lost steam.

Huang also noted that Taiwan's unemployment situations is expected to be eased slightly in March, given the fact that some industries are showing signs of bottoming out to pick up gradually and that high-tech firms are beginning to cancel their unpaid-leave practices to cope with an influx of rush or short-term orders.

Meanwhile, along with the rising jobless rate, the average regular monthly pay for workers in Taiwan reached NT$33,671 in February, showing a decline of 4.33 percent from a year earlier, for the largest annual decline of its kind ever seen.

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