The food and beverage sector and lodging providers reported the biggest rise in workers on official unpaid leave programs in Taiwan over the past week amid an ongoing surge of COVID-19 cases, Ministry of Labor (MOL) showed Wednesday.

The number of furloughed workers in those sectors totaled 2,610 reported on Wednesday, up 1,061 from the previous report released on May 24, MOL data showed.

The increase accounted for 75 percent of the 1,412 workers who were newly added to unpaid leave programs in Taiwan as a whole during the period, the ministry said.

Huang Wei-chen (???), director of the MOL’s Department of Labor Standards and Equal Employment, said Taiwan’s lodging and food and beverage sectors were beginning to feel the negative impact of the COVID-19 surge, which has discouraged consumers from dining out and traveling.

Even well-established companies were not spared, Huang said, citing two large hotels and a restaurant chain that together reported some 400 workers newly added to unpaid leave programs over the past week.

As of Wednesday, Taiwan reported a total of 17,193 furloughed workers, up from 15,781 a week ago, according to MOL data.

The COVID-19 surge began in the second half of April, when case numbers surpassed 10,000 in a single day for the first time on April 28.

More than 75,000 cases have been reported on 13 of the 15 days since May 18, and deaths have hovered around 100 a day since May 26.

Other industries that have been affected by this surge in recent weeks include support services, transportation, warehousing, retailing, and manufacturing, the data showed.

The MOL updates its furloughed worker data on the 1st, 8th, 16th, and 24th of every month, reporting unpaid leave numbers at companies that have registered their furlough programs with the ministry.

The unpaid leave programs typically last for less than three months, with employees taking five to eight days of unpaid leave per month, according to the MOL.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel