The number of workers on formal furlough programs in Taiwan fell by more than 8,000 in one week to dip below 10,000 for the first time since June 2021, the Ministry of Labor (MOL) said Monday.
Data compiled by the MOL showed the number of workers who agreed to take unpaid leave fell to 9,488 during the past week as of Jan. 7, down by 8,784 from the previous report released on Jan. 3.
Meanwhile, the number of companies with furlough programs in place also fell by 808 from a week earlier to 1,797.
The week saw an airline catering company terminate its furlough program and reinstate more than 800 employees, Huang Wei-chen (???), director of the MOL’s Department of Labor Standards and Equal Employment, told reporters.
The number of workers on unpaid leave had at one point surged to 58,000 after surpassing the 10,000 mark in June last year but has gradually moved down to below 20,000 since December last year.
Huang said that although the number of furloughed workers dropped by more than 8,000 from a week earlier, the possibility of the figure returning to above 10,000 over the coming week could not be ruled out as many travel agencies and companies in the transportation and warehousing industry are in the process of reporting their furloughed worker data.
During the past week, the number of workers taking unpaid leave in the support service industry, which is made up largely of travel agencies, fell the most by about 2,500, followed by a drop of 2,081 in the lodging and food & beverage sector.
In the manufacturing sector, the number of workers taking unpaid leave fell by 1,340, while the transportation and warehousing sector saw a drop of 700 employee jobs on furlough for the week, according to the data.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel