Vice Premier Shih Jun-ji (施俊吉) yesterday urged companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and on the Taipei Exchange, an over-the-counter market, to divert earnings from cash dividends distributed to stockholders and use the funds to increase employee pay in the latest push by the government to address wage stagnation.
Last year, listed companies paid out NT$1.2718 trillion (US$42.478 billion at the current exchange rate) in dividends, Shih said.
“If part of the dividend, let us say 5 percent, was used to increase wages, that would be about NT$60 billion, or even more in view of projected revenue growth this year,” Shih said. “Then the average starting salary offered by companies would be NT$30,000 per month.”
Shih made the remarks at the Cabinet’s year-end news conference, at which he expressed optimism over the nation’s economic outlook, citing figures from the past two years that show “solid economic performance” in terms of growth in real GDP, exports and business revenue.
“Even though listed companies continue to report revenue growth, employees are not getting a share of those profits,” Shih said, adding that is why Premier William Lai (賴清德) has repeatedly called for a NT$30,000 minimum monthly salary for entry-level employees.
Lai first made the appeal to businesses leaders early last month.
Earlier this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said that her administration would gradually raise the nation’s minimum monthly wage to NT$30,000.
From Monday, the minimum hourly wage will be NT$140 and the minimum monthly wage will be NT$22,000, up from NT$133 and NT$21,009 respectively, the second upward adjustment made since Tsai came to office in May last year.
Asked what plans the Cabinet has to achieve Tsai’s envisioned minimum wage, Shih said: “It is a dream, but not that far away.”
“Last year, the hourly minimum wage and monthly minimum wage increased by 5.3 percent and 4.75 percent respectively, far more than GDP growth,” Shih said. “Although there is still a difference of NT$8,000 between the minimum wage and the president’s stated goal, it can be achieved in the not too distant future.”
With the measures the government has implemented to revitalize the economy and drive industry transformation, “we hope businesses will share profits with employees so that they get to enjoy the benefits of economic growth,” Shih said.
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