Taipei: Overtime hours at Taiwan's electronics companies reached a record high for June since records began in 1980 as the artificial intelligence (AI) boom continued to drive global demand, according to data released Monday by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).

According to Focus Taiwan, the DGBAS reported that employees in the electronic components industry worked an average of 28.7 hours of overtime in June, significantly higher than the national average of 9.1 hours across the industrial and service sectors. This surge in overtime hours reflects the increased global demand for AI technologies, which has led to a spike in orders for Taiwanese tech firms.

In the computer and optoelectronics industry, average overtime also reached a record high for June at 17.7 hours, the highest since 1980. The DGBAS highlighted that the sustained enthusiasm for AI is driving this demand, leading to a heavier reliance on overtime by employers. Overtime hours serve as a key indicator of activity levels in the sector.

Further data from the DGBAS showed that in June, the average overtime in the manufacturing sector stood at 18.0 hours, marking a 0.5-hour increase from the previous year, but a slight decrease of 0.3 hours compared to May. Across the industrial and service sectors, average overtime reached 9.1 hours, a year-on-year rise of 0.5 hours, though it saw a reduction of 0.2 hours from the prior month.

For the first half of the year, the nationwide average overtime was 9.1 hours, an increase of 0.4 hours from the previous year, while the manufacturing sector saw a year-on-year rise of 0.8 hours to 17.8 hours. The DGBAS also reported that average monthly working hours in the industrial and service sectors totaled 163.1 hours during the January-June period, a decrease of 2.0 hours from a year earlier. In June alone, average working hours increased by 5.0 hours from May to 171.2 hours.

Employment figures in Taiwan's industrial and service sectors reached 8.58 million at the end of June, reflecting an increase of 10,000, or 0.12 percent, from the end of May. The manufacturing sector saw the largest monthly growth, adding 4,000 jobs. Within manufacturing, employment trends varied: the electronics component industry experienced a 0.60 percent rise in workers, while the computer and optoelectronics industry saw a 0.27 percent increase. However, employment in the rubber and plastics products industry fell by 0.37 percent, and the plastics industry saw a decline of 0.13 percent.

Tan Wen-ling, deputy director of the DGBAS Census Department, noted that employment declines in certain traditional industries suggest that these sectors still require time for recovery.