Impacted by the international financial tsunami that occurred in late 2008, the number of applicants registering for unemployment benefits in Taiwan peaked at 35,000 in February 2009. This figure remained at 21,000 until April 2009, but then dropped to 9,400 in February 2010 and to 8,100 in March 2010. These figures declined precipitously compared with the same periods a year ago, showing that applications for unemployment benefits have been substantially reduced.
According to Bureau of Labor Insurance (BLI) statistics, the number of first-time confirmed benefits recipients was about 11,400 in March 2010. The number of approved cases was 77,000 and the total amount paid out reached NT$1.40 billion. There was a significant growth in the number of first-time confirmed benefits recipients at 5,300, with the number of approved cases at 36,400 and the total amount of endorsed payments at NT$710.7 million.
Nonetheless, analysis showed that the growth occurred because February 2010 happened to coincide with the Chinese New Year holiday. The time-course for endorsed payments resulted in a delay in paying unemployment payments. In addition, there were only 16 working days in February, which means 7 days shorter than the 23 working days in March, which was another contributing factors.
BLI notes that the average number of first-time confirmed benefits recipients in February and March 2010 should be about 8,400, with the average number of approved cases at 53,600. The endorsed amount of average payments was NT$1.06 billion, which was somewhat comparable to the endorsed payment amount in January 2010. There was no significant increase in applications for unemployment benefits after Chinese New Year. If we compared the average number of first-time confirmed cases to the same period last year, we find that the number of cases approved was 120,000, and the average amount of endorsed payments was NT$2 billion. Thus we can see that Taiwan's unemployment rate has been lowered substantially.
Although preliminary statistics from BLI show that the number of approved cases of unemployment benefits remained at 45,000 in April, this can be attributed to the fact that the duration of unemployment benefits has been extended in some cases from 6 months to 9 months. According to a May 1, 2009 amendment to the Employment Insurance Law, such extensions apply to middle-aged and senior applicants as well as to the physically and mentally impaired. Nonetheless, April's number of approved cases declined significantly in comparison to April 2009's figure of 111,000 as the financial tsunami made landfall. Therefore, it is unlikely that one can deduce that the economy has recovered at a slow rate simply by looking at the endorsed number of approved cases of unemployment benefits. Moreover, the number of cases for collection of early reemployment allowances totaled 13,300 cases from January to April 2010, an increase of only 5,000 over the 8,000 cases seen last year. This shows that the economic cycle is indeed turning for the better.