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TAIPEI - TAIWAN'S cabinet on Thursday approved a plan to create nearly 200,000 jobs over the next four years as it seeks to cut the island's jobless rate to 3 per cent and help cushion the impact from a global economic downturn.
Taiwan's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to a 3-year high of 4.12 per cent in September as a slowdown in the island's economic growth led many Taiwan firms to halt hiring or, in some cases, to cut jobs.
'Creating employment is one of the means of boosting the economy, and hence, it's a top government priority', Premier Liu Chao-shiuan said in a statement.
The cabinet, headed by Mr Liu, said it planned to create 48,000 jobs and provide training for 240,000 people annually, although it did not specify details.
Taiwan, an export-led economy that is dependent on the global tech cycle, has a workforce of 10.9 million out of a population of 23 million, with the number of employed at about 10.4 million, data from the statistics agency showed.
President Ma Ying-jeou has pledged to push jobless rate to 3 per cent during his administration, though some analysts said it might be tough given fears of a global recession stemming from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
Taiwan officials said they aimed to keep Taiwan's average jobless rate at below 3.8 per cent in 2008, down from 3.91 per cent last year.
The island's joblessness has fallen from a record 5.33 per cent in December 2001, but analysts said it was unlikely to return to the 1.5 to 3.0 per cent range of the 1990s due to manufacturing outsourcing to low-cost bases, such as China. -- REUTERS
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