Taiwan’s economy was sluggish last year, but some big conglomerates are still planning to give year-end bonuses to their employees, market sources said on Saturday.
The sources said that among these business groups, Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團) is likely to give bonuses equal to at least four months of salary, even though its bottom line has been hurt by plunging international crude oil prices.
FPG and other business heavyweights have laid a sound foundation after years of development and have been able to fend off the headwinds of a global economic slowdown, the sources said.
This is a sharp contrast with many of the nation’s small and medium-sized companies — some of which have had to ask employees to go on unpaid leave.
According to government data, there were 4,377 employees on unpaid leave as of the middle of last month, down from 5,437 recorded at the end of November.
FPG said that, although the group has not finalized its year-end bonus plans, it is likely to follow precedent. The group’s employees were given bonuses equivalent to between four and four-and-a-half months’ salary last year.
Meanwhile, textile maker Far Eastern New Century Corp (遠東新世紀) said that it has yet to make a decision over year-end bonuses, but it expects its employees to receive bonuses equivalent to at least two months’ wages.
Although China Steel Corp (中鋼), the largest steel maker in Taiwan, has been hurt by a supply glut amid weakening global demand, the company said that it would issue year-end bonuses equal to no less than one month’s salary.
China Airlines Ltd (中華航空), the biggest international carrier nation’s, said it would meet with its labor union to discuss year-end bonuses, but the amount is expected to be at least one month’s salary plus additional allowances.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
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