A proposed salary increase for public servants next year is aimed at helping to maintain real income amid commodity price increases, and is not about political expediency ahead of next year’s presidential election, Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) Minister Chu Tzer-ming (朱澤民) said yesterday.
During a hearing of the legislature’s Finance Committee, Chu said the concept of a pay hike for government workers, public school teachers, and military personnel was presented last week by the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration (DGPA) and takes into consideration indicators such as the government’s financial status and commodity prices in Taiwan.
A committee assigned by the DGPA is to review the proposal and make a decision based on those and other factors — not on political considerations ahead of the presidential elections on Jan. 13 next year, Chu said.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
The DGPA committee’s recommendations are to be forwarded to the Executive Yuan, which would decide whether to approve salary increases next year for those three categories of employees, he said.
Chu said that as commodity prices rise, it is necessary to maintain public servants’ level of real income — how much money an individual earns after accounting for inflation.
While Taiwan’s exports are weak, domestic consumption continues to gain momentum, and the economy is not in a downturn, Chu said, responding to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Te-fu (林德福), who asked why the government would raise wages during an economic slowdown.
Lin also asked if the government would proceed with the proposed pay raise if Taiwan’s GDP growth does not reach 2 percent this year.
The DGBAS is not a decisionmaking agency in that regard, but rather handles budget preparations, Chu said, adding that it would respect the recommendations of the DGPA committee.
The Executive Yuan last week said that it was supportive of the DGPA’s proposal to consider a salary increase for public sector employees next year, following a pay raise for government workers, public school teachers and military personnel in 2018 and last year.
DGPA data showed that salaries in those three categories have risen five times since 2000, with the largest increase, 4 percent, implemented last year.
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