Heightening inflationary pressures have pushed take-home pay into negative territory for the first time in six years, despite pay raises, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
The average monthly take-home wage in April gained 2.7 percent from a year earlier to NT$44,353 (US$1,499), while total wages — including overtime and performance-based compensation — grew 2.66 percent to NT$51,492, the DGBAS said.
The wage gains were the result of general pay increases in the public and private sectors, reflecting their improved earnings abilities, it said.
However, inflation picked up more quickly, causing a 0.23 percent retreat in take-home pay in the first four months, suggesting a downturn in purchasing power, Chen said.
The situation was likely worse last month, as companies reliant on domestic demand took a hard hit from COVID-19 infections, the officials said.
Taiwanese have stayed home more often to avoid infection, even though the government has refrained from tightening disease prevention controls.
Trade groups have called on the government to bail out hard-hit sectors, asking for immediate relief, not stimulus measures planned for next month or later.
Meanwhile, the number of workers hired by the nation’s industrial and service sectors in April totaled 8.15 million, shrinking 0.05 percent from a month earlier, as the job market began to feel the pinch of spiking infections, the DGBAS said.
The number of employed workers fell by 4,000 from a month earlier, and the decrease in job numbers might have widened last month because of larger surges in the number of COVID-19 cases, DGBAS Deputy Director Chen Hui-hsin (陳惠欣) told a media briefing.
“The twists bucked historic trends, since usually the job market puts up a stronger performance in April than in March,” Chen said, adding that widespread COVID-19 infections were to blame.
The number of domestic cases has declined mildly this month, but remains comparatively high, the daily government tally of cases showed.
The number of newly hired employees totaled 184,000 in April, down by 34,000 from a month earlier, while the number of dismissed employees totaled 188,000, down by 20,000 from a month earlier, the agency said.
The number of newly hired workers in the wholesale and retail sectors fell the most among all sectors, by 12,000 month-on-month, followed by the manufacturing sector with 7,000, and restaurants and hotels with 4,000 workers, it said.
Overall, the accession rate — the ratio of new employees added to payrolls — fell by 0.42 percentage points from a month earlier to 2.26 percent in April, as employers became more conservative about hiring while grappling with a business slowdown, it said.
The exit rate, or the ratio of workers leaving the job market, eased by 0.24 percentage points to 2.31 percent, it added, as people tend to hold on to their jobs during difficult times.
The number of employed workers declined by 19,000 from a year earlier, the agency said.
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