TAIPEI: Employees in the industry and service sectors received median annual earnings of NT$525,000 (US$16,155) in 2023, according to statistics released by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting, and Statistics (DGBAS) Wednesday. Median earnings increased 1.22 percent from 2022, marking the lowest growth in three years, the tallies showed. Average annual per capita earnings was NT$701,000, up 0.71 percent from the previous year.

According to Focus Taiwan, a DGBAS official explained that domestic demand in the service sector increased after the COVID-19 pandemic, boosting earnings in the sector. In contrast, the manufacturing sector faced challenges such as a slowing economy, destocking pressure, decreasing orders, and fewer employees, said the official, who declined to be named. Therefore, the median earnings in the two sectors increased, but by a small margin.

Meanwhile, the ratio of earnings in the first and ninth deciles for 2023 earnings was 4.05, the lowest since the DGBAS first started recordi
ng the number in 2012. The ninth decile marks the point at which only 10 percent of records are higher, and the first decile is the point that is higher than only 10 percent of total records. The DGBAS official attributed this to the different economic conditions in the two sectors in 2023.

That year, the manufacturing sector gave out fewer bonuses because of the slowing economy and destocking, causing the ninth earnings decile to drop 0.15 percent to NT$1.279 million. On the other hand, the service sector saw rising domestic demand and the first decile grew 3.72 percent to NT$316,000.

Meanwhile, the median annual earnings of male employees was NT$561,000, while that of female employees was NT$492,000, according to DGBAS data.