Taiwan’s average monthly take-home pay last quarter increased by 2.25 percent from a year earlier to NT$46,030 (US$1,420), on the back of wage hikes in the public and private sectors, but inflation wiped out the benefit of growth, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
Inflation of 2.34 percent during the January-to-March period meant that real average take-home pay shrank 0.09 percent after two straight years of contractions.
“The 2.25 percent wage advance represented the second-highest in six years, but the consumer price index moved up faster,” Census Department Deputy Director Chen Hui-hsin (陳惠欣) said.
Photo: CNA
The situation might improve, as last month’s inflationary gauge posted a moderate increase of 1.95 percent, nearing the central bank’s 2 percent target despite an 11 percent uptick in electricity tariff rates, Chen said.
Food and entertainment price hikes slowed, nearly two years after the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, the statistics agency said.
Real total wages — which includes overtime compensation, performance-based commissions and bonuses — climbed a steeper 3.24 percent to NT$67,662, managing to yield a growth of 0.88 percent after adjustments for inflation, Chen said.
Financial and insurance companies offered the highest average take-home pay and overall compensation at NT$68,698 and NT$91,967 respectively, as banks, securities houses and fund houses benefitted from rallies on the local bourse and improving risk appetite.
Video content publishers ranked second, while electricity and gas suppliers placed third by giving their employees average monthly wages of NT$67,058 and NT$66,382, or total compensation of NT$82,786 and NT$76,268 respectively, the DGBAS report showed.
The pickup came after Taiwan’s economy steadily emerged from a global slowdown, although uncertainties linger, Chen said.
The number of workers hired in the service and industrial sectors in March fell 0.05 percent, or 5,000 people, to 8.41 million, as manufacturers preferred the use of overtime, instead of expanding their payroll, to meet rush business orders, Chen said.
That explained why overtime hours increased at the fastest rate in five years, Chen added.
Likewise, the accession rate last month was at 2.35 percent, rising 0.32 percentage points from one month earlier, the agency said.
The dropout rate rose 0.09 percentage points to 2.41 percent, indicating that more people joined the labor market than quit, DGBAS data showed.
When an apartment comes up for rent in Germany’s big cities, hundreds of prospective tenants often queue down the street to view it, but the acute shortage of affordable housing is getting scant attention ahead of today’s snap general election. “Housing is one of the main problems for people, but nobody talks about it, nobody takes it seriously,” said Andreas Ibel, president of Build Europe, an association representing housing developers. Migration and the sluggish economy top the list of voters’ concerns, but analysts say housing policy fails to break through as returns on investment take time to register, making the
NOT TO WORRY: Some people are concerned funds might continue moving out of the country, but the central bank said financial account outflows are not unusual in Taiwan Taiwan’s outbound investments hit a new high last year due to investments made by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and other major manufacturers to boost global expansion, the central bank said on Thursday. The net increase in outbound investments last year reached a record US$21.05 billion, while the net increase in outbound investments by Taiwanese residents reached a record US$31.98 billion, central bank data showed. Chen Fei-wen (陳斐紋), deputy director of the central bank’s Department of Economic Research, said the increase was largely due to TSMC’s efforts to expand production in the US and Japan. Investments by Vanguard International
WARNING SHOT: The US president has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on all imported vehicles, and similar or higher duties on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors US President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that a trade deal with China was “possible” — a key target in the US leader’s tariffs policy. The US in 2020 had already agreed to “a great trade deal with China” and a new deal was “possible,” Trump said. Trump said he expected Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to visit the US, without giving a timeline for his trip. Trump also said that he was talking to China about TikTok, as the US seeks to broker a sale of the popular app owned by Chinese firm ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動). Trump last week said that he had
STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE: The group is proposing a consortium of investors, with Tesla as the largest backer, and possibly a minority investment by Hon Hai Precision Nissan Motor Co shares jumped after the Financial Times reported that a high-level Japanese group has drawn up plans to seek investment from Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc to aid the struggling automaker. The group believes the electric vehicle (EV) maker is interested in acquiring Nissan’s plants in the US, the newspaper reported, citing people it did not identify. The proposal envisions a consortium of investors, with Tesla as the largest backer, but also includes the possibility of a minority investment by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) to prevent a full takeover by the Apple supplier, the report said. The group is
RSS