Taiwan could find a report recently released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) helpful in devising strategies to narrow the widening income gap in the country, a government planning agency said.
The Council for Economic Planning and Development said the strategies introduced in the latest report by the OECD aimed at creating a more balanced distribution of income could serve as a valuable reference in addressing the issue.
REPORT
The organization’s report, Growing Unequal?, observed that income differentials in its member countries over the past 20 years had widened and analyzed factors that contributed to the situation.
The report pointed to a changing population structure and the impact of globalization as playing significant roles in the widening of the income gap, the council said.
Less access to information technology recorded among less educated or jobless households, for instance, accounted for the continual decline in their employment rate, the report showed.
Workers with higher education or more sophisticated skills, on the other hand, earned higher pay as well, causing the income gap to widen.
REDISTRIBUTION
The report proposed a redistribution strategy and a work strategy, which, in combination, could effectively narrow the differences, the council said.
The redistribution strategy refers to methods such as imposing higher marginal tax rates on the rich and providing subsidies to the poor, while the work strategy involves boosting employment to minimize the risk of poverty.
The report said the adoption of more proactive work policies would help narrow the gap.
The council said that OECD countries have pushed for work welfare policies in recent years as part of their efforts to assist low-income families in maintaining basic living standards.
Some programs, for example, have provided subsidies to employers as incentives to hire low-paid workers, the report said.
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
NEW PRODUCTS: MediaTek plans to roll out new products this quarter, including a flagship mobile phone chip and a GB10 chip that it is codeveloping with Nvidia Corp MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday projected that revenue this quarter would dip by 7 to 13 percent to between NT$130.1 billion and NT$140 billion (US$4.38 billion and US$4.71 billion), compared with NT$150.37 billion last quarter, which it attributed to subdued front-loading demand and unfavorable foreign exchange rates. The Hsinchu-based chip designer said that the forecast factored in the negative effects of an estimated 6 percent appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar against the greenback. “As some demand has been pulled into the first half of the year and resulted in a different quarterly pattern, we expect the third quarter revenue to decline sequentially,”
ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip assembly and testing service provider, yesterday said it would boost equipment capital expenditure by up to 16 percent for this year to cope with strong customer demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Aside from AI, a growing demand for semiconductors used in the automotive and industrial sectors is to drive ASE’s capacity next year, the Kaohsiung-based company said. “We do see the disparity between AI and other general sectors, and that pretty much aligns the scenario in the first half of this year,” ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu (吳田玉) told an
RSS