The number of employees in Taiwan who received a monthly regular wage of less than NT$30,000 (US$1,024) fell in 2021 to the lowest since the tally was started in 1980, according to the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).
Data released by the DGBAS Monday showed the number of employees in the country who were paid less than NT$30,000 in regular wages fell by 256,000 from a year earlier to 2.465 million in 2021, marking the eighth consecutive year-on-year decline.
Commenting on the decline in the number of people in Taiwan receiving less than NT$30,000 in monthly wages over the past eight years, Chen Hui-hsin (???), deputy director of the DGBAS census department, said the results comes in the wake of increases in minimum wages for laborers and many employers raising wages for their employees.
In 2021, the minimum monthly wage stood at NT$24,000 and the maximum hourly pay was NT$160, compared with NT$19,047 in basic monthly wage and NT$115 in basic hourly pay eight years ago.
In 2022, the minimum monthly wage was raised further to NT$25,250 with minimum hourly pay hiked to NT$168.
The DGBAS said the number of workers receiving less than NT$30,000 in regular monthly wages accounted for 26.84 percent of all employees in 2021, down from 29.76 percent in a similar survey conducted in 2020.
On the other hand, the number of workers paid NT$30,000 to NT$50,000 in monthly regular wages hit 4.799 million in 2021, up from 4.575 million a year earlier, making up 52.27 percent of the total workforce, the DGBAS said.
In addition, the number of workers receiving a monthly regular wage of more than NT$50,000 hit 1.919 million in 2021, up from 1.848 million in 2020, accounting for 20.89 percent of all employees, the DGBAS added.
The DGBAS conducted its latest manpower survey focused on regular wages in October 2021, instead of May, the month the annual survey was conducted from 1980. Last May, Taiwan raised its COVID-19 alert to Level 3 in the wake of a spike in domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases.
As the annual survey asks for regular wages paid only in the month when the poll is conducted, the DGBAS indicated there were fears the results would fail to reflect the entire reality.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel