The number of people employed in the local industrial and service sectors increased in October as business activities picked up amid eased concerns over COVID-19, according to the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).

With domestic consumption on the rise, the DGBAS said, the lodging and food/beverage industry, which had been hit hard by COVID-19 fears, saw the number of employees come close to the level prior to an outbreak of domestically transmitted cases in mid-May.

Data compiled by the DGBAS showed that the number of people employed in the industrial and service sectors totaled about 8.15 million at the end of November, up 31,000 or 0.38 percent from the end of September.

It was the fourth consecutive month that employment numbers moved higher, according to the DGBAS.

The data indicated the number of people hired by the lodging and food/beverage industry at the end of October increased by 11,000 from a month earlier, while the number of employees in the support service industry, which is largely comprised of travel agencies, as well as the entertainment/arts and leisure industries rose by 5,000 each.

Chen Hui-hsin (???), deputy director of the DGBAS census department, said as the government has lowered the level of alert over COVID-19 by easing restrictions on people movement, employment has shown signs of improving further.

In October, Chen said, the three-day Oct. 10 National Day holiday, along with the government-issued NT$5,000 spending vouchers (US$180), also gave a boost to domestic consumption, which led to businesses hiring more workers.

Compared with the end of April, the number of employees in the lodging and food/beverage industry as of the end of October was only 3,000 less than before the outbreak, due to the growing willingness among consumers to spend, Chen said.

In the previous few months, Chen said, the number of people employed in the lodging and food/beverage industry grew by about 10,000 a month.

However, the entertainment/arts and leisure industries still saw 16,000 fewer employees compared to the number in April as restrictions on patronage in KTV parlors were not eased until October, Chen said.

In addition to employment, Chen said the reduced COVID-19 concerns also helped wages grow steadily.

In October, the average monthly regular wages in the industrial and service sectors stood at NT$43,593, up NT$214 or 0.49 percent from a month earlier, the DGBAS said. The October figure was also up 2.21 percent from a year earlier, the DGBAS added.

In the same month, average monthly earnings, which are comprised of regular wages and non-regular wages such as overtime pay and bonuses, stood at NT$50,042, down 3.90 percent from a month earlier, but up 4.61 percent from a year earlier.

In the first 10 months of this year, average regular wages and average monthly earnings rose 1.82 percent and 2.91 percent from the previous year, respectively, to NT$43,088 and NT$56,387.

After inflationary adjustments, however, average regular wages and average monthly earnings rose only 0.01 percent and 1.80 percent, respectively, in the 10-month period.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel