Mass layoffs reported at over 100 Taipei businesses

台北市100多家企業裁員

Number of businesses undergoing mass layoffs at nine-year high


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taipei’s Department of Labor said that a total of 101 businesses had reported mass layoffs as of the end of November this year, marking the highest figure in nine years.

The number of employees who have been or will be laid off by the 101 businesses stands at 3,970, with the wholesale and retail industry accounting for 27 percent of total layoffs — the most among industries. Taipei Department of Labor Section Head Shih Chen-su (施貞夙) said that given wholesale and retail have been hardest hit, the pandemic is clearly the driving factor in the mass layoffs, CNA reported.

According to the labor department’s statistics, both the number of businesses in Taipei laying people off as well as how many employees fluctuated over the past nine years, with 2013 being the nadir for both numbers. Only 55 businesses laid off 2,136 people in 2013, while a high for layoffs occurred in 2016, when 5,809 people were forced out en masse.

The labor department said that the hospitality and catering industry took second place in the number of businesses that filed for mass layoffs in 2020, with 26 businesses responsible for the loss of 576 jobs, followed by the information and communication industry, where 18 businesses fired 458 people.

The most serious case of mass layoffs this year occurred at the Far Eastern Air Transport Corp, which let go of 528 employees, followed by the dismissal of 207 people from Mandarin Oriental Taipei.