Real regular monthly earnings per employee in Taiwan's industrial and service sectors registered a year-on-year increase of 0.63 percent in the first 10 months of this year, according to tallies released on Friday by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).
This marked the first time real regular monthly earnings posted positive growth for the same period over the past three years, DGBAS officials said, noting that real earnings for the same period declined 0.55 percent in 2004 and 1.28 percent last year.
For the 10 months to October, regular monthly earnings averaged NT$36,066 (US$1,108), up 1.26 percent over the same period last year and marking the highest level over the past five years, the officials said.
After taking into consideration a 0.63 percent rise in the consumer price index during the period, there was an increase of 0.63 percent in real regular earnings, they explained.
During the same period, monthly earnings (including regular and non-regular incomes) averaged NT$44,521, up 0.88 percent compared with the same period last year, they said.
Real monthly earnings increased by 0.25 percent after taking into consideration the inflation rate, they said.
The officials predicted that real regular monthly earnings will register positive growth for the whole of this year in light of stable consumer prices.
DGBAS tallies show that employees in the industrial and service sectors totaled 6.08 million as of the end of October, up 5,000 over the previous month's level.
The monthly working hours for the industrial and service sectors averaged 176.2 hours in October, down 6.5 hours month-on-month, according to the tallies.
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