Local businesses are to award an average of 1.48 months' salary as year-end bonuses to their employees this year, about one-third of a month's salary less than last year, mainly because of extra costs incurred from the new pension fund rule, according to a survey released by 1111 Job Bank (1111人力銀行) yesterday.
"The slight drop in year-end bonuses this year has to do with the weaker economy last year compared with 2004," Ryan Wu (吳睿穎), spokesman for 1111 Job Bank, told a press conference yesterday.
"But the new pension fund measure, which added to employers expenditure, has especially affected their willingness to award bigger bonuses," Wu said.
Under the new law, companies in Taiwan are required to set aside 6 percent of an employee's salary every month toward their pension fund.
About 5 percent of companies polled said that instead of year-end bonuses, they would offer a small amount of cash in a traditional Lunar New Year red envelope, gift coupons or a free outing for employees.
However, people who work for foreign companies in Taiwan can look forward to an average year-end bonus of 3.07 months' salary, the survey showed.
The traditional manufacturing sector, which enjoyed a bumper year on the back of soaring prices and demand for raw materials, offers the highest bonuses this year.
Formosa Plastics Group (
The finance, securities and insurance sector, which provided the highest bonuses last year, fell to the No. 2 spot this year.
Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) said that it plans to offer five months' salary, and SinoPac Financial Holding Co (建華金控) would give two months' salary.
Employees in the information-technology industry, which paid seven-figure bonuses in the sector's heyday, may be disappointed this year.
According to the poll, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the world's largest made-to-order chip supplier, will grant just two months' salary this year.
Other sectors, including the import-export, publishing, retail, service and transportation industries, will issue between one and two months' salary as year-end bonuses, according to the job bank.
The job bank conducted the survey by polling companies via the Internet from Jan. 3 to Jan. 17. A total of 398 valid responses were received.
Taiwan’s technology protection rules prohibits Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) from producing 2-nanometer chips abroad, so the company must keep its most cutting-edge technology at home, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks in response to concerns that TSMC might be forced to produce advanced 2-nanometer chips at its fabs in Arizona ahead of schedule after former US president Donald Trump was re-elected as the next US president on Tuesday. “Since Taiwan has related regulations to protect its own technologies, TSMC cannot produce 2-nanometer chips overseas currently,” Kuo said at a meeting of the legislature’s
GEOPOLITICAL ISSUES? The economics ministry said that political factors should not affect supply chains linking global satellite firms and Taiwanese manufacturers Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) asked Taiwanese suppliers to transfer manufacturing out of Taiwan, leading to some relocating portions of their supply chain, according to sources employed by and close to the equipment makers and corporate documents. A source at a company that is one of the numerous subcontractors that provide components for SpaceX’s Starlink satellite Internet products said that SpaceX asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan because of geopolitical risks, pushing at least one to move production to Vietnam. A second source who collaborates with Taiwanese satellite component makers in the nation said that suppliers were directly
Top Taiwanese officials yesterday moved to ease concern about the potential fallout of Donald Trump’s return to the White House, making a case that the technology restrictions promised by the former US president against China would outweigh the risks to the island. The prospect of Trump’s victory in this week’s election is a worry for Taipei given the Republican nominee in the past cast doubt over the US commitment to defend it from Beijing. But other policies championed by Trump toward China hold some appeal for Taiwan. National Development Council Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) described the proposed technology curbs as potentially having
TALENT FACTOR: The nation’s chip sector would be difficult to replace, but to maintain that advantage, Taiwan must retain skilled workers, an academic said A group of experts on Sunday called on Taiwan to strive to maintain its world-leading position in the semiconductor industry, with a US-China chip dispute expected to continue regardless of who becomes the next US president. Tamkang University Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies director Li Da-jung (李大中) said at a Taipei seminar on global semiconductor security that the relationship between the two superpowers would remain confrontational. There appears to be “no turning back” in US-China relations, as US presidential candidates US Vice President Kamala Harris and former US president Donald Trump are both expected to continue Washington’s hawkish stance