Taiwan's unemployment rate posted a rare month-to-month decline in August, reflecting a turn for the better in the country's overall economy. According to statistics released by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) Thursday, the jobless rate stood at 5.17 percent in August, down 0.03 percentage points from July. It marked the first time in nearly 19 years that August, a period that typically sees an influx of new graduates entering the job market, has posted an unemployment rate lower than July. DGBAS officials attributed the drop mainly to a recovery of the economy following a year-long recession and the government's various job promotion programs. The following are excerpts from the local media coverage of the topic: United Daily News: Liu Tien-su, deputy director of the DGBAS's Fourth Department, said the government-sponsored short-term job creation projects have contributed greatly to the decline in the jobless rate. In August, the number of people on the government payroll hit a record high of 1.058 million. If the short-term public service jobs provided by the government are excluded, Liu said, the unemployment rate might reach 5.62 percent in August. Premier Wu Den-yi promised early this year that he will step down if the domestic jobless rate does not fall below 5 percent by the end of the year. Against this backdrop, government agencies have launched a variety of short-term job promotion programs that had helped 115,000 people secure jobs as of mid- August, Liu said. More than 70,000 new jobs will also become available in the coming few months, Liu said. 'A total of 188,000 jobs are expected to be created this year.' The average monthly salary of local wage earners for the January-July period also increased to NT$46,543 from the year-earlier level of NT$43,494. Encouraging economic figures also included increases in passenger and cargo traffic volume at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, the country's main gateway. The airport handled 24.2 million passengers between January and July, marking a 23 percent increase from the same period of last year, according to airport statistics. While attending a ruling Kuomintang meeting Thursday, Wu said Taoyuan airport beat its Asian peers in terms of the passenger and cargo traffic growth rates for the January-July period. 'All these figures, coupled with improving GDP growth rate and rankings in various global competitiveness surveys, show that our economic prospects are bight,' Wu added. (Sept. 24, 2010). Liberty Times: Thanks to increases in orders for semiconductor, optoelectronics and machinery sectors, the industrial production index surged to 128.22 in August, the second highest monthly level in history, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA). The manufacturing-sector production index also rose to 131.06 in august, also the second highest single-month record, MOEA officials said. (Sept. 24, 2010). China Times: Kaohsiung Harbor, Taiwan's largest port, handled more than 6.08 million TEUs of cargo in the first eight months of this year, marking a rise of 9.91 percent from the year-earlier level. Kaohsiung retained its place as the world's 13 largest container port, a harbor official said. (Sept. 24, 2010). 