The first image below shows a comparison of unemployment rates across various countries in the third quarter of 2015, from Japan (the lowest) to South Africa (the highest). Since the Republic of China is not a member of the United Nations, I looked up the unemployment report for the Taiwan area on Trading Economics so that everyone can make a comparison and learn from others’ experiences.
The unemployment rate in the Republic of China in the fall of 2015 was approximately 3.79%, falling between South Korea and the People’s Republic of China (Mainland), which shows that our country belongs to those with a healthy global work energy.
Global unemployment rate report.
The second chart below is the unemployment report for Taiwan since 1979. We can see from the line graph that the current unemployment rate has been maintained at a healthy low level for a considerable period.
The historical peak of Taiwan’s unemployment rate occurred during the first year of Professor Ma Ying-jeou’s presidency. At that time, Ma Ying-jeou had just taken over the administration from Chen Shui-bian but also encountered the ultra-high unemployment rate caused by corrupt politics and the year’s deepest global chain financial crisis. In particular, the financial crisis that year, including the global stock market crash and the subprime mortgage crisis, caused immense economic panic.
After taking office, Ma Ying-jeou actively promoted the 22K minimum wage plan and a Large amount of dispatch work, which indeed effectively controlled the low unemployment rate environment, ensuring that the people of Taiwan at least had enough to eat.
Unemployment rate of the Republic of China.
Interestingly, since 1979, every peak in the unemployment rate has been significantly related to global financial crises, including the 1987 US stock market crash, the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and the 1998 Russian financial crisis. However, the exception was 2002, the third year of Chen Shui-bian’s administration.
In 2002, the historical second peak of the unemployment rate in the Taiwan area was recorded. Yet at that time, only Argentina was facing an internal debt crisis in the global market, which had minimal impact on the global financial market. As for why the unemployment rate in the Republic of China soared at that time, I will leave that for you readers to ponder.