More than 88 percent of employers in Taiwan are planning to give year-end bonuses, online job bank yes123 (yes123求職網) said on Tuesday.
Citing a survey conducted between Dec. 1 and 14, the job bank said 88.7 percent of the 1,028 employers polled said they would issue year-end bonuses, compared with 79.8 percent in a similar poll conducted last year.
The average year-end bonus is equal to 1.32 times an employee’s monthly salary — the second-highest in six years — only trailing 1.35 months in a poll conducted in 2018, the job bank said.
Photo: Tyrone Siu, Reuters
The expected increase in the average year-end bonuses showed that many firms have climbed out of the shadow cast by the COVID-19 pandemic and appeared more willing to give bonuses to retain employees, yes123 spokesman Bingo Yang (楊宗斌) said.
The latest survey showed that the domestic-oriented service sector seemed to be more generous in giving out bonuses, while the export-oriented manufacturing sector appeared cautious about doling out the money as their operations were hurt by a weaker global economy, Yang said.
The financial, insurance and accounting sector in the service industry remained No. 1 for bonuses among sectors, as it is planning to give an average equivalent of 2.75 months’ salary as year-end bonuses, up from 2.56 months a year earlier, the survey showed.
It is the 11th consecutive year that financial firms have given out the highest year-end bonuses in Taiwan, the job bank said.
The transportation, warehousing and logistics sector, also in the service industry, came in second, with planned bonuses equivalent to 2.11 months’ salary, up from 1.75 months a year earlier, the survey found.
The information technology sector in the manufacturing industry took the third spot, as it is planning to issue year-end bonuses equivalent to 1.8 months’ salary on average, down from 1.89 months a year earlier, followed by the medical care and biotech industry — 1.56 months’ salary vs 1.67 months’ last year — and old economy industries — 1.48 months vs 1.6 months, the job bank said.
The wholesale and retail sector in the service industry is planning to give year-end bonuses equivalent to 1.4 months’ salary on average, up from one month a year earlier, while an average of year-end bonuses equivalent to 1.33 months’ salary is planned by the lodging and food and beverage sectors, also in the service industry, up from 0.8 months a year earlier, it added.
The mass media and public relations industry sat at the bottom of the rankings, as it is planning to give bonuses equivalent to only 0.5 months of wages, the survey showed.
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) expects its addressable market to grow by a low single-digit percentage this year, lower than the overall foundry industry’s 15 percent expansion and the global semiconductor industry’s 10 percent growth, the contract chipmaker said yesterday after reporting the worst profit in four-and-a-half years in the fourth quarter of last year. Growth would be fueled by demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers, a moderate recovery in consumer electronics and an increase in semiconductor content, UMC said. “UMC’s goal is to outgrow our addressable market while maintaining our structural profitability,” UMC copresident Jason Wang (王石) told an online earnings
The US Federal Reserve is expected to announce a pause in rate cuts on Wednesday, as policymakers look to continue tackling inflation under close and vocal scrutiny from US President Donald Trump. The Fed cut its key lending rate by a full percentage point in the final four months of last year and indicated it would move more cautiously going forward amid an uptick in inflation away from its long-term target of 2 percent. “I think they will do nothing, and I think they should do nothing,” Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis former president Jim Bullard said. “I think the
The TAIEX ended the Year of the Dragon yesterday up about 30 percent, led by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電). The benchmark index closed up 225.40 points, or 0.97 percent, at 23,525.41 on the last trading session of the Year of the Dragon before the Lunar New Year holiday ushers in the Year of the Snake. During the Year of the Dragon, the TAIEX rose 5,429.34 points, the highest ever, while the 30 percent increase in the year was the second-highest behind only a 30.84 percent gain in the Year of the Rat from Jan. 25, 2020, to Feb.
Cryptocurrencies gave a lukewarm reception to US President Donald Trump’s first policy moves on digital assets, notching small gains after he commissioned a report on regulation and a crypto reserve. Bitcoin has been broadly steady since Trump took office on Monday and was trading at about US$105,000 yesterday as some of the euphoria around a hoped-for revolution in cryptocurrency regulation ebbed. Smaller cryptocurrency ether has likewise had a fairly steady week, although was up 5 percent in the Asia day to US$3,420. Bitcoin had been one of the most spectacular “Trump trades” in financial markets, gaining 50 percent to break above US$100,000 and
RSS