Taipei, Jul 24 (IANS): Taiwan's unemployment rate rose to 3.74 per cent in June, setting a new high since November 2021, the island's statistics agency said on Sunday.

A total of 442,000 people on the island became unemployed in June, 8,000 or 1.87 percent, more than the last month, Xinhua news quoted the agency as saying.

The unemployment rate over the past six months is 3.66 per cent on average, down 0.27 percentage points from the same period last year, it added.

As fresh graduates began job hunting in June, the rising unemployment rate was partly attributed to a seasonal effect.

Also, many companies were forced to make cutbacks or even close down their business due to the lingering Covid-19 pandemic on the island.

According to the island's disease monitoring agency, Taiwan has recorded more than 4.4 million Covid cases.

Meanwhile, 11,372,000 people on the island found employment in June, slightly more than the last month, while the average figure for the first half of this year was 11,422,000, declining 0.37 per cent year on year, according to the agency.