More employees put on unpaid leave in Taiwan

 Taiwan has recorded more employees taking unpaid leave, a common measure to cut costs when business is slow, particularly in manufacturing, according to the island's labor affairs department.

   As of July 23, a total of 1,049 companies had put 25,208 employees on unpaid leave across Taiwan, up 75 and 1,601 respectively over the figures released a week ago, the department said in a statement.

   A total of 16,517 employees at 353 companies in the manufacturing sector were put on unpaid leave, as of Thursday, up 590 and 38 respectively from the previous week, both hitting record high since the outbreak of COVID-19, the department said.

   Taiwan's manufacturers have received far fewer international orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic over the past few months, the department said, adding that the industry may not see a notable reduction of employees on unpaid leave in the near future.

   Affected by the slow manufacturing sector, wholesaling and retailing also saw their employees on unpaid leave up by 434 to 4,778 in total.

   In the service sector, logistics firms recorded a total of 1,138 employees on unpaid leave, up 503 over the previous week.

   Hotels and catering businesses have seen an uptick in business, but travel agencies continued to see a slight rise in the number of employees on unpaid leave, according to the department.