The average starting salary for first-time jobseekers was NT$26,723 (US$888) per month last year, up NT$493, or 1.9 percent, from a year earlier, marking the fifth consecutive year of wage increases, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said.
WAGE GAP
The average monthly starting wage for female first-time jobseekers was about 98 percent of what their male counterparts received last year, with the gap shrinking by 0.1 percentage points from a year earlier, the DGBAS said.
However, not all sectors offered first-time jobseekers a higher salary.
Last year, first-time jobseekers in the electricity/fuel supply business were paid an average of NT$28,507 per month, the highest compensation in the industrial sector, but the figure was down about 2 percent from a year earlier, the DGBAS said.
The water supply and water pollution treatment business came in second in the industrial sector, paying first-time jobseekers an average of NT$27,306 per month, up 4.2 percent from a year earlier, it said.
The mining industry paid the lowest wages in the industrial sector, with newcomers to the business receiving an average of NT$25,281 per month, down 4.9 percent from a year earlier, the DGBAS said.
As for the service sector, first-time jobseekers in the financial and insurance sector were paid NT$31,025 per month on average, the highest in the sector, it said.
BIGGEST INCREASE
Starting wages in the information and communications sector saw the biggest increase in the industrial and service sectors, climbing 5 percent from 2015, the DGBAS said.
The hospitality, food and beverage sector came in second, with average starting wages growing 4.4 percent year-on-year, the agency said.
First-time jobseekers in the service sector received NT$26,982 per month on average, surpassing the average salary of NT$26,554 paid to newcomers to the industrial sector, it added.
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