Taiwan’s has the most dynamic post-COVID-19 economy in the world

According to ManpowerGroup, 23 per cent of Taiwanese companies are ready to hire new staff. Unemployment in the country is at 4 per cent compared to the 9.4 average in advanced economies. Its recovery is driven by the technology sector. The idea that governments must choose between public health and economy has been disproven.

Taipei (AsiaNews) – Forecasts for Taiwan’s economy are rosy. Thanks to the adroit management of the pandemic emergency, the island's labour market is the most dynamic in the world, this according to the ManpowerGroup, an important staffing agency, based on surveys in 43 countries.

Based on interviews with Taiwanese 1,094 employers, the survey found that 23 per cent of them are planning to hire from October through December.

Official data shows Taiwan’s unemployment at 4 per cent in August, barely changed from 3.9 per cent a year earlier.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental economic organisation with 37 member countries, estimates that its member states will finish the year with an average unemployment rate of 9.4 per cent.

For analysts, the rapid containment of the coronavirus will allow Taiwan to recover pre-crisis employment levels much sooner than other countries, especially if compared to countries in South Asia and Southeast Asia that are struggling with a drastic drop in employment and structural changes in their labour market.

The Taiwanese recovery is driven by the country’s flagship sector: technology. Computer makers like Acer and AsusTek saw saw a rise in global demand for computers this year. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC), the world's largest contract chip maker, expects to hire 8,000 people before the year is over.

Thanks to public funds for environmental projects and communication networks, the construction sector is also rebounding. Domestic tourism has seen a surge as well, partly thanks to government-issued vouchers. Likewise, catering is clearly improving with US giant Starbucks planning to increase hiring by 10 per cent in the next six months.

According to a study by the Oxford Martin School, Taiwan's success disproves the idea – prevalent in many countries – that governments must choose between the health of their population and the economy in their response to the pandemic crisis.

The island has a very low mortality rate due to COVID-19 (0.29 per million inhabitants); yet, in the second quarter of the year it saw only a decline of 0.6 percent in economic growth.

By comparison, the United Kingdom saw its economy collapse (-21.7 per cent) and a high level of deaths from the disease: 611.29 per million inhabitants.

• taiwan
• covid-19
• pandemic
• economy
• recovery
• growth
• employment
• oecd
• health technology