The average monthly wage in July picked up 2.89 percent from a year earlier to NT$46,530 (US$1,448), while the average total monthly wage — including overtime pay, performance-based commissions and bonuses — climbed 6.06 percent to NT$62,266, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
The upturn came as the industrial and service sectors raised their staff levels to meet demand as business improved, Census Department Deputy Director Tan Wen-ling (譚文玲) said.
The total number of workers hired by the industrial and service sectors rose 0.48 percent, or 40,000 people, from June to 8.47 million, as manufacturers added 9,000 workers, the first positive growth since August 2022, Tan said.
Photo: CNA
The payroll expansion suggested a solid business increase, as Taiwanese semiconductor firms benefited from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, she said.
At the same time, retailers and wholesale companies hired 8,000 more workers, while hotels and restaurants added 7,000 employees, Tan said, adding that seasonal hiring lent support during the summer time.
Overtime hours held steady at 16.4 hours, led by suppliers of electronics at 24.7 hours, the 13th straight month of increase to a new high since November 2007, she said.
Taiwan is a leading producer of chips, graphic cards, servers and other electronics used in cloud data centers for US technology giants that are aggressively spending on the development of AI applications.
Additionally, scores of local firms form part of the global supply chain of Apple Inc, which on Monday released its latest iPhone series and smartwatches.
The business pickup allowed firms to offer better compensation to tackle personnel shortages, the DGBAS said.
Average total monthly pay in July represented a 12.26 percent increase from one month earlier, as some firms issued performance-based commissions and mid-year bonuses, Tan said.
Financial and insurance companies offered the highest overall average monthly wage of NT$122,450, followed by electricity and gas suppliers at NT$109,668 and electronic component makers at NT$105,782, the DGBAS report showed.
By contrast, hospitality providers and non-school educational facilities had the lowest total monthly pay of NT$39,393 and NT$35,053 respectively, it found.
People with higher education enjoyed better pay, as those with a graduate degree reported a median monthly pay of NT$62,661, compared with people with junior college or university diplomas at NT$39,067, it said, citing statistics for the past five years.
Average monthly take-home pay in the first seven months of the year rose 2.6 percent year-on-year to NT$46,269, while the average total monthly pay during the same period increased 4.06 percent to NT$63,826, the agency said.
The real pace of increase eased to 0.29 percent and 1.72 percent respectively after adjustments for inflation, it added.
ADVANCED: Previously, Taiwanese chip companies were restricted from building overseas fabs with technology less than two generations behind domestic factories Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), a major chip supplier to Nvidia Corp, would no longer be restricted from investing in next-generation 2-nanometer chip production in the US, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. However, the ministry added that the world’s biggest contract chipmaker would not be making any reckless decisions, given the weight of its up to US$30 billion investment. To safeguard Taiwan’s chip technology advantages, the government has barred local chipmakers from making chips using more advanced technologies at their overseas factories, in China particularly. Chipmakers were previously only allowed to produce chips using less advanced technologies, specifically
The New Taiwan dollar is on the verge of overtaking the yuan as Asia’s best carry-trade target given its lower risk of interest-rate and currency volatility. A strategy of borrowing the New Taiwan dollar to invest in higher-yielding alternatives has generated the second-highest return over the past month among Asian currencies behind the yuan, based on the Sharpe ratio that measures risk-adjusted relative returns. The New Taiwan dollar may soon replace its Chinese peer as the region’s favored carry trade tool, analysts say, citing Beijing’s efforts to support the yuan that can create wild swings in borrowing costs. In contrast,
BRAVE NEW WORLD: Nvidia believes that AI would fuel a new industrial revolution and would ‘do whatever we can’ to guide US AI policy, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Tuesday said he is ready to meet US president-elect Donald Trump and offer his help to the incoming administration. “I’d be delighted to go see him and congratulate him, and do whatever we can to make this administration succeed,” Huang said in an interview with Bloomberg Television, adding that he has not been invited to visit Trump’s home base at Mar-a-Lago in Florida yet. As head of the world’s most valuable chipmaker, Huang has an opportunity to help steer the administration’s artificial intelligence (AI) policy at a moment of rapid change.
TARIFF SURGE: The strong performance could be attributed to the growing artificial intelligence device market and mass orders ahead of potential US tariffs, analysts said The combined revenue of companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and the Taipei Exchange for the whole of last year totaled NT$44.66 trillion (US$1.35 trillion), up 12.8 percent year-on-year and hit a record high, data compiled by investment consulting firm CMoney showed on Saturday. The result came after listed firms reported a 23.92 percent annual increase in combined revenue for last month at NT$4.1 trillion, the second-highest for the month of December on record, and posted a 15.63 percent rise in combined revenue for the December quarter at NT$12.25 billion, the highest quarterly figure ever, the data showed. Analysts attributed the
RSS