Taiwan unemployment rate rises for 3rd consecutive month

台灣失業率連續三個月上升

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The unemployment rate rose for the third consecutive month, reaching 3.45% in August due to the influx of graduates into the labor market, according to a report on Monday by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.

Tan Wen-ling (譚文玲), deputy director of the Census Department, DGBAS, said the increase was due to an influx of first-time job seekers. Tan said the unemployment rate typically experiences seasonal fluctuations and tapers in September, though this year's unemployment rate could trend higher due to Trump's tariffs, per UDN.

At the moment, she said the impact of US tariffs is "slowly emerging," as more people work reduced hours or are furloughed, which are not counted in the official unemployment rate.

Tan said US tariffs have led to 121,000 workers seeing reduced hours in August, marking the second consecutive month of increase, a 4,000 increase from July, and the highest number so far this year.

However, Tan still believes the labor market remains stable as August unemployment was the lowest in the same month for 25 years. The number of unemployed workers in August was 415,000, a monthly increase of 6,000.

In August, the number of unemployed due to workplace contraction or closure increased by 3,000, while the number of first-time job seekers and those unemployed due to job dissatisfaction increased by 2,000.

Tan said that if the unemployment rate continues to rise in September, the impact of tariffs may lead to more concerns for the overall labor market.