The Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics announced on the 22nd that the unemployment rate for March was 3.35%, the lowest in the same month in nearly 25 years, driven by employment growth in the service sector. The labor market remains stable, but the imposition of reciprocal tariffs by the United States poses a significant variable.

Based on historical trends, the unemployment rate in April is expected to decrease slightly, but estimating changes is challenging under current circumstances. Deputy Director of the Census Office, Tan Wen-ling, indicated that the number of unemployed in March was 403,000, and although the unemployment rate of 3.35% marks a new low, it is slightly higher than the 3.34% seen in February due to ongoing job transitions after the Lunar New Year.

Nonetheless, the employment population in the service sector grew by 36,000 year-on-year, indicating overall stability in the labor market. Tan noted that the negative effects of the US tariffs on the labor market have not yet been observed, and the impact is expected to begin with reduced working hours before gradually affecting employment numbers and the unemployment rate.

Looking ahead to April, Tan suggested that based on historical data, the unemployment rate should slightly decrease, but predicting whether it will rise or fall this year is difficult due to the uncertain impact of the tariffs. The tariffs are expected to take effect in 90 days, likely resulting in noticeable effects on Taiwan's labor market in the second half of the year.

In terms of international comparison, seasonally adjusted unemployment rates for March show Taiwan at 3.36%, compared to South Korea at 2.9%, Hong Kong at 3.2% in February, Singapore at 2.9% in February, and Japan at 2.4% in February, indicating that Taiwan's unemployment rate is relatively high among Asian countries.

The Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics also revised its unemployment statistics at the beginning of this year, revealing that by the original definition, there were 403,000 unemployed in March. If the standard period is extended from a single week to four weeks, the number of unemployed increases to 410,000. Additionally, factoring in 113,000 underemployed workers and 131,000 potential labor force participants, the broad unemployment figure reaches 654,000, resulting in a broad unemployment rate (LU4) of 5.38%.