Taiwan's lower unemployment rate has helped make a great majority of local companies willing to hire fresh college graduates as the number of experienced job seekers falls, a job bank said Tuesday. 'About 90 percent of local companies we surveyed said they are willing to hire fresh college graduates, ' Jennifer Hong, the manager of Yes 123 Job Bank, said at a press briefing. 'It is difficult for these companies to hire the kind of people they want this year because the best talent has already been hired by other companies as the economy is improving, ' she said. The job bank conducted the survey of 195 companies from May 1-15. Hong's remarks came a day after statistics showed Taiwan's unemployment rate in April fell to 5.39 percent, a 15-month low that was attributed to a recent rebound in electronics exports. The April jobless rate was down 0.28 percentage points from March, marking the biggest single-month drop in nearly 15 years, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said Monday. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the DGBAS put the unemployment rate in April at 5.43 percent, marking the eighth consecutive monthly fall. The jobless rate is expected to rise in the coming three months as a new class of graduates enters the job market. The government plans to bring the jobless rate under 5 percent by the end of the year, and Premier Wu Den-yih has vowed to step down if the goal is not attained. At the press briefing, Hong said that 70 percent of local companies surveyed said that this year they will offer a similar starting salary as they did last year, at an average NT$22,624 (US$702). Last year's average marked a 16-year low following an average NT$23,972 in 1993, the job bank said, citing DGBAS figures. The job bank blamed the global financial crisis and unclear economic prospects for the recent fall in Taiwan's average starting salary. A salary sponsorship program launched by the government last year was also blamed for the starting salary decline. The government offered a monthly subsidy of NT$22,000 to local companies that hired job seekers who graduated in the previous three years, prompting many companies to give similar salaries. 