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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 Average wages climbing, but median wages low
People work at a construction site in Taipei’s Zhongzheng District yesterday. Photo: CNA
By Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporter
The average monthly regular wage in July was NT$49,491, a 3.32 percent increase from a year earlier and up 0.3 percent from the month before, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics （DGBAS） said yesterday.
Including overtime, bonuses and other commissions, the overall monthly wage averaged NT$71,165, an annual increase of 8.25 percent and a monthly growth of 17.86 percent, the DGBAS said in a report.
In July, the median monthly wage — generally considered a more accurate measure of people’s income as extremely high or low wages do not skew it — increased 3.47 percent year-on-year and 0.3 percent month-on-month to NT$39,629, indicating that most workers still earned less than the average, the report said.
The wage data were based on the agency’s survey of employees in the nation’s industrial and service sectors. The total number of employees, including full-time and part-time employees from Taiwan or abroad, as of July 31 was 8.627 million, up 87,000 or 1.01 percent from a year earlier, the DGBAS said.
From January to July, the average monthly regular wage was NT$49,054, up 2.94 percent from the same period last year, and the median monthly wage was NT$39,341, up 3.06 percent, the report said.
After adjusting for inflation, which increased 1.8 percent annually in the first seven months, the average monthly regular wage was NT$44,113, up 1.12 percent from a year earlier and the largest increase for the same period in six years, while the median figure was NT$35,379, up 1.24 percent, it showed.
In the first seven months, cumulative total earnings （including overtime, bonuses and other non-regular earnings） grew 4.18 percent to NT$483,077 on average in the first seven months, the report said. After adjusting for inflation, the figure grew 2.33 percent, the biggest growth in 11 years, to NT$434,420, it said.
Regarding overtime hours, a key indicator of economic activity, the manufacturing sector averaged 18 hours of overtime in July, an increase of 1 hour year-on-year and reaching a nearly 16-year high for the same month, the report said.
The electronic components industry averaged 28.7 hours of overtime in July, an increase of 0.8 hours year-on-year and the highest for the same month in 47 years, while the average overtime hours in the computer, electronic products and optical products industry reached 17.1 hours, an increase of 1.3 hours year-on-year and a 43-year high for the same month, it said.
DGBAS Census Department Deputy Director Tan Wen-ling （譚文玲） said that data on the number of employees, regular wage, total wage and overtime hours all showed the overall labor market is moving in a generally positive direction.
However, with consumer inflation ticking up in the past few months and exceeding 2 percent, it could squeeze future real wage growth, she said.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
