■ S Korea tops compensation list
South Korea's hourly compensation costs have surged from 100 in 1990 to 311.6 for this year -- double Taiwan's level of 155.1, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中經院) reported yesterday in its latest weekly magazine. Citing the latest tallies released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, CIER reported that South Korea made the largest increase in this category among 28 countries and areas surveyed. South Korea's 311.6 is also higher than Singapore's 198.6 and Hong Kong's 171.3 -- an indication that the country has to bear greater financial burden from workers' rising salaries, social insurance and retirement fees, CIER analyzed, pointing out that a hike in hourly compensation cost can negatively affect a country's economic growth rate and consumer product price increase rates.
■ Farming technologies released
Council of Agriculture officials announced yesterday that 30 farming technologies invented by the council's research laboratories will be released to the private sector to facilitate technical improvement in the agricultural sector. The list includes technology for Agaricus Blazei Murill processing, the fast detection reagent for viral nervous necrosis on fish and the Tainan-22 rice strain. A council spokesman said that by transferring these techniques from the government to the private sector, companies can save on costs as well as make the prices for their products more competitive.
■ NT dollar rises
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground on the US dollar yesterday, rising NT$0.01 to close at NT$31.913 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
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