The labor market improved last year with a rise in employment, as well as monthly take-home pay and total wages, but faster inflation wiped out those increases, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
The industrial and service sectors hired 7,000 people, a 0.09 percent increase from the previous year, to grow the workforce to 8.17 million people, as retailers, hospitality and tourism companies benefited from “revenge” consumption in the post-COVID-19-pandemic era, the agency said.
Strong consumer spending more than offset a slowdown that hit manufacturers and shrank their payroll by 0.74 percent, it said.
Photo: CNA
Steep global inflation and monetary tightening have led to soft demand for tech gadgets and services such as smartphones, laptops, wearables and automobiles, for which Taiwanese firms are the world’s major suppliers of critical components.
Likewise, Taiwan’s average regular monthly pay gained 2.43 percent to NT$45,496 last year, while total wages — including overtime compensation, performance-based commissions and bonuses — rose 1.42 percent to NT$58,545, DGBAS data showed.
However, sharper inflation of 2.5 percent last year drove real monthly wages down 0.05 percent in terms of take-home pay and 1.04 percent for overall wages, it showed.
It is the first time in seven years that real wages have contracted, and the 1.04 percent decline represents the worst in 11 years, Census Department Deputy Director Chen Hui-hsin (陳惠欣) said.
“It remains to be seen if real monthly wages could return to growth mode this year, depending on inflationary movements,” Chen told reporters.
A government wage increase for civil servants would help, as would similar moves by segments of the private sector, she said.
The consumer price index last month was a healthy 1.79 percent, mainly due to Lunar New Year holiday distortions, and is expected to rise above the central bank’s 2 percent alert again this month, the DGBAS said earlier.
Shipping companies provided the highest overall wages of NT$142,917 per month, followed by financial holding companies at NT$115,551 and banking institutions at NT$113,475, the agency said.
Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運) and Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運), which reaped a windfall in business in 2022, distributed generous year-end bonuses in January last year.
Airline companies came next with total monthly wages of NT$105,970 and electronic component makers at NT$90,309, DGBAS data showed.
Taiwanese technology firms consistently rank high in bonus distribution, thanks to their leadership positions in tech on the world stage.
By contrast, hairdressers received the lowest overall monthly wages of NT$32,490, followed by non-school education facilities at NT$33,215 and tour bus companies at NT$33,958, the agency said.
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