Analysis: Taiwan's Wage Growth Hits 10-Year High
A new government study shows Taiwan wage growth has hit a 10-year high. To learn more about the implications, TaiwanPlus spoke to Roy Ngerng, a fair wage advocate based in Taipei.
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00:00Taiwan's budget and statistics department says that the average monthly earnings mark
00:04the highest growth rate in 10 years.
00:07Is this a positive development?
00:09I think on the one hand it is a positive development that wages are rising in Taiwan after wages
00:17have been growing quite slowly.
00:19But on the other hand, we have to also look at the base wage that the salary is being
00:25increased upon.
00:27Taiwan's salary as compared to many advanced countries vis-a-vis the cost of living is
00:31actually comparatively low.
00:34And even if wages are rising, it is based on the very low base, which means that workers
00:39are still not earning adequate wages for the cost of living.
00:43The government says data shows the employers are willing to pay higher bonuses, which is
00:48driving the real wages.
00:50How much will this impact everyday people?
00:52I think bonuses actually make up about a quarter of the total wages that workers are
00:59earning in Taiwan, which means that workers are actually at the mercy of the employers
01:05in terms of whether the employers are willing to give a higher bonus or a lower bonus, or
01:11if they are willing to work overtime work.
01:14But if the businesses are not willing to pay a bonus, this means that workers are only
01:21able to earn a low fixed pay that they are able to earn.
01:26The structure in Taiwan shouldn't allow businesses to have such a huge leeway in terms of how
01:33much they can decide in terms of the wages that workers should be earning.
01:38There should be an allowance for workers to earn a high fixed pay and for bonuses to make
01:43up their additional pay.
01:45The study on wages did not take into account inflation.
01:48When inflation is taken into account, how positive is this wage growth for everyday
01:53workers?
01:54We should really be looking at the basket of goods that are necessary for an individual
01:58to have basic spending on, to ensure that they have basic necessities.
02:03However, the current wages are still pegged to inflation and do not adequately meet inflation.
02:11So if workers are not even able to meet an adequate basket of goods, when we do not then
02:18increase wages to account sufficiently for inflation, then it also means that not only
02:24do they not have enough to survive on, when wages are risen, it also doesn't ensure that
02:31their purchasing powers are maintained at the current level.