Taiwan: Unemployment Rate Falls in October

Taiwan’s unemployment rate fell to 3.4 percent in October 2024. According to data released on Monday, November 25 by the island’s Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS), the unemployment rate decreased by 0.03 percent compared to the results recorded in September. So this is the second consecutive decline after three months of growth, driven by new graduates looking for their first job. “Excluding seasonal factors,” DGBAS writes, “the unemployment rate in October 2024 was 3.38%, the same as in September. Taiwan recorded 408,000 unemployed last month, down 4,000 from September and 3,000 from October 2023.

Taiwanese authorities are concerned about the flight of technology manufacturing from the island, which is moving toward India, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn announced that “it will begin production in the coming months at two plants in Taiwan and Mexico, using advanced digital modeling technology developed by US-based Nvidia.” According to Taiwanese media, the factories will use Nvidia’s advanced Omniverse platform “to create digital replicas of facilities, systems, and processes, as well as optimize enterprise performance.” Among other things, the factories “will test and manufacture artificial intelligence microchips from Nvidia’s Blackwell AI series.” The Taiwanese Foxconn plant is expected to start production as early as December 2024, with the Mexico plant expected to be operational in early 2025.