Across China: Taipei

Unemployment rate up

Taiwan's unemployment rate hit a record high of 5.8 percent in May as more companies closed amid the economic slump, the government said yesterday.

The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said in a statement that a total of 633,000 people were unemployed, up from 625,000 in April. One reason for rising unemployment, it said, was companies going out of business due to the recession.