Labor rights activists and academics said on Sunday that they were skeptical that working conditions would improve despite the job market gradually showing signs of recovery.

The latest data from the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) showed that the number of workers told to take unpaid leave by their employers had dropped to 66,709 as of August 15, from 74,468 at the end of last month.

In early March, the number of employees on unpaid leave peaked at 238,975, about four times as much as the latest figure.

Since March, the figure has decreased month by month, with 126,175 on unpaid leave at the end of June. Aside from unpaid leave, another indicator has also shown improvement in the job market — the number of people on unemployment benefits this month dropped for a second consecutive month to about 90,000 people.

However, Son Yu-lian (孫友聯), secretary-general of the Taiwan Labor Front, said the numbers did not tell the real story.

He said the more than 2 million workers insured under their trade unions and those working in small businesses with four or less employees were not entitled to unemployment benefits and therefore, did not appear in the count.

“The number of people receiving unemployment benefits does not tell us whether the job market is still suffering from the problem of ­joblessness,” he said.

Chu Wei-li (朱維立), president of the National Federation of Independent Trade Unions, said the most pressing problem with high jobless numbers was the rising number of atypical employees, which include part-time workers, temporary employees, interns and contract employees.

“Not only are atypical employees underpaid, but they face problems such as instability and poor working conditions,” he said.

Kenneth Lin (林向愷), a professor of economics at National Taiwan University, urged government officials to look at more than just jobless numbers.

Many people may in fact be involuntarily unemployed, but because they have given up on the job search, they are not counted as part of the unemployment equation. This does not mean, however, that jobless problems have disappeared, he said.