More than 44 percent of people expect a salary increase next year due to a booming economy, a Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) survey showed on Monday.
However, 49.5 percent of respondents said they thought their salary would remain flat, while 6.2 percent expected a wage cut, the survey showed.
Of the respondents, 54.2 percent said they expected a year-end bonus of one to three months of their salary, 38.7 percent expected one month of salary and 7.1 percent expected more than three months of salary, it showed.
Cathay Financial attributed the upbeat outlook regarding raises and bonuses to the nation’s solid economy and an increase in corporate earnings this year.
However, the fast spread of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 weighed on the outlook regarding the economy and the willingness of respondents to make big-ticket purchases, the survey found.
Thirty-seven percent of respondents said that they expected the nation’s economy to grow further over the next six months, lower than 46 percent a month earlier, while 34 percent said they planned to increase big-ticket purchases, down from 41 percent a month earlier, the survey showed.
Given that Omicron has caused volatility in global stock markets, fewer respondents were upbeat about local equities than a month earlier, while more than half forecast that consumer prices would increase by more than 2 percent next year, the survey said.
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