The unemployment rate was 5.16 percent in June, edging up 0.02 percentage points from the previous month as this year's batch of graduates entered the job market. The unemployment figure for July was expected to be released Monday. Hsin Ping-lung, an associate professor at National Taiwan University's Graduate Institute of National Development, said that although the unemployment rate was expected to continue to rise in July, the rise would be very small, thanks to the improving economy.
Hsin added, however, that the unemployment situation for new college graduates has deteriorated further.
“That does not relate to the economy itself, it is more a structural problem related to excess supply, “ Hsin said, pointing out that “there were just too many college graduates.”
Under a trend of flat organizations, the demand for college graduates has been less than before, while a lot of entry-level jobs have also been superceded by computers, Hsin said.
“College graduates face fewer job opportunities and supply exceeds demand,” he said.
If Taiwan ignores the problem and continues to produce a large number of college graduates, even a booming economy will not slow the worsening of unemployment among new college graduates, Hsin said.
He suggested that the government should concentrate more on higher technological and vocational education to fix the structural problem.
The local industry structure still requires a lot of low- and middle- class technical workers, he said.
Taiwan's high unemployment is a pressing issue for the government, with its unemployment rate in the second quarter of this year — 5.2 percent — the highest among Asia's “Four Little Dragons.”
Taiwan's economy in the second quarter grew 12.53 percent from a year earlier, with exports growing the fastest among its Asian peers at 46.2 percent.
Premier Wu Den-yih has vowed to step down if his administration fails to bring the unemployment rate below 5 percent by the end of this year.
Source from Chinese Post
