Taiwan reports lowest unemployment for October in 15 years

Taiwan's unemployment rate stood at 3.9 percent in October, the lowest during this period in 15 years, the island' s statistics agency said on Monday.

The unemployment rate was 0.01 percentage points higher than the previous month but 0.05 percentage points lower year on year, the agency said in a press release.

The number of total unemployed persons reached 455,000 in October, compared with 11.68 million employed.

However, the island's economic department announced a sluggish industrial production index in October on the same day. The index shrunk by 6.15 percent year on year for the sixth consecutive month.

Earlier this month, Taiwan reported that its gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter shrank by 1.01 percent year on year, the lowest since the second quarter of 2009, when Taiwan was affected by the global financial crisis.

According to the agency, the number of first-time job-seekers who lost their jobs in October fell by 1,000 from September, while unemployment due to business downsizing and shutdowns increased by 1,000 and the number of those who were unemployed because of losing temporary job contracts also increased by about 1,000.

Chang Yun-yun, a senior statistics official, told media that employers have began reducing working hours and cutting overtime hours to address the slowing economy. Endi