Around 12,000 of a total of 19,134 workers in formal furlough programs in Taiwan last week were employed in the hospitality sector, as strict border controls imposed to keep COVID-19 out of the country continue to have an impact, the Ministry of Labor (MOL) said Thursday.
Data compiled by the MOL showed the number of workers on unpaid leave programs registered with the ministry rose from 19,035 as of Dec. 7 to 19,134 by Dec. 15.
In addition, the number of companies with furlough programs in place also increased by 79 over a one-week period to 2,455.
Huang Wei-chen (???), director of the MOL's Department of Labor Standards and Equal Employment, told CNA that the number of furloughed workers in the lodging and food & beverage industries continued to fall as companies with 100 employees or more began to terminate unpaid leave programs in the week following the relaxation of quarantine measures.
As of Dec. 15, the number of furloughed workers in the lodging and food & beverage industries fell by 275 from a week earlier to 2,846, according to the ministry's data.
Most of the companies with unpaid leave programs in place were mainly small businesses involved support services sector, Huang said.
As of Dec. 15, the number of workers on unpaid leave in the support services sector increased by 193 to 9,539 over the past week.
Border controls hurt not only travel agents but also airlines, airline catering services, and tourism hotels, which in total accounted for 12,000 furloughed employees, Huang added.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel