TAIPEI: At least 180,000 workers across Taiwan have been released by their employers to unpaid leave. Worst hit is the high-tech sector which has the highest number of workers forced to take time off without pay, the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) reported yesterday.

The council said the estimated figure is based on reports concerning unpaid leave submitted by more than 400 island companies. The survey was taken between Dec 23 and Jan 31. Since January, the CLA has required local enterprises to report the number of workers on unpaid leave, to help the governing authority to understand the impact of falling exports on Taiwan's labor market.

The CLA acknowledged that some companies with workers on unpaid leave may not have filed reports to the council. However the agency says the figure of 180,000 workers virtually replicates the finding of a similar survey conducted last December. A statement issued by the council said members believe compliance with the reporting system is quite high.

Based on a random survey of companies with over 200 workers, the council estimated that 202,000 workers were being forced by management to take an average of four days of unpaid leave during the month of December when the survey was undertaken.

Meanwhile, the number of workers on full or partial unpaid leave in the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park in northern Taiwan has reached over 100,000, accounting for 77 percent of the park's total work force.

Amid a global economic crisis that has battered enterprises across the world, companies in Taiwan's high-tech, financial and conventional sectors have been hard hit. Many have been forced to scale down operations or wind them up completely.

Some companies, however, have endured the strain and retained their work forces. These companies have applied flexible measures such as cutting salaries and requiring workers to take paid or unpaid leave instead of laying them off.

CNA

(HK Edition 02/11/2009 page1)