The ratio of working people aged 30 to 40 earning a monthly wage of less than NT$30,000 (US$937) has increased from 2005 to 2014, a Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) study found.
The ratio of this age group earning a monthly salary of between NT$20,000 and NT$29,999 to the same-aged working people as a whole rose from 28.6 percent in 2005 to 35 percent in 2014, the institute said yesterday.
“Apparently after a decade, the salaries of young people have not increased, but decreased,” the institute said, warning of an expansion of the so-called young working class who are living in poverty.
The institute said that its researchers made the finding while compiling and analyzing Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics data and reports of employee tasks over the past 10 years.
In Taiwan, the pay for labors normally matches the age of the worker, except in the 30 to 34 age group, the institute said.
Researchers also found a drop of 1 to 2 percentage points in terms of the ratio of workers aged over 30 with a monthly salary between NT$40,000 and NT$59,999 in 2014 to that in 2005.
“Those earnings are relatively high [a monthly salary of more than NT$60,000] and were normally paid to professionals, specialists or executive chiefs or business managers,” the institute said.
College or university graduates’ wages were about 25 percent less than NT$30,000 a month in 2014, up by nearly 3 percentage points from 2005, the study shows.
The institute attributed the drops to many factors, including a growth in atypical employment, an excessive supply of workforce with higher education and fund and talent movements triggered by globalization.
While the study found that Taiwan’s GDP growth did not prompt real wage increases, it believes local industries have to seek an increase in the added value of their products in order to achieve stronger international competitiveness.
The higher the added value of their products, the more capable enterprises would be in raising wages, the institute said, calling for the government and industrial sector to jointly promote industrial innovation and upgrade the nation’s industrial sector.
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