The nation’s workforce shrank 0.43 percent from a year earlier to 7.96 million people in October, while average monthly pay increased 1.62 percent to NT$42,756 (US$1,500), the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
The latest wage and employment data reflected a lingering, but milder impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, the statistics agency said.
Compared with one month earlier, the number of employed edged up 0.13 percent, or added 10,000 people, mainly in the health, manufacturing and hospitality sectors, its report showed.
Photo: CNA
“Business for the manufacturing industry appeared to gain momentum after taking a hit from the COVID-19 outbreak since April,” DGBAS Deputy Director Chen Hui-hsin (陳惠欣) told a news conference in Taipei.
The number represented a retreat of 13,000 from the pre-
pandemic level and down 25,000 from a year earlier, suggesting room for the lagging economic indicator to recover, Chen said.
Of the employed population, 187,000 were rehired or new recruits, she said, adding that about 177,000 retired, resigned or lost their jobs.
Overall, the labor accession rate dropped 0.28 percentage points from September to 2.35 percent in October, while the labor exit rate fell 0.38 percentage points to 2.23 percent, the report showed.
Meanwhile, the 1.62 percent annual increase in average monthly take-home pay suggested a slowdown from a 2.11 percent uptick in September, it said.
Adding overtime and performance-based compensation, total average monthly wage stood at NT$47,912, lower than September’s NT$50,512, it said.
Several companies issued bonuses in September, raising the comparison bar, it said.
Employees at airline companies enjoyed the highest take-home wage at NT$71,108 per month, followed by those working at electricity suppliers at NT$64,781, and employees at financial and insurance companies at NT$63,575, it said.
Workers at educational facilities — excluding private and public schools — had the lowest average monthly pay of NT$25,138, followed by NT$27,830 for workers at transportation companies, it said.
For the first 10 months of this year, the average take-home wage stood at NT$42,426 per month, while the average total compensation was NT$54,989, the agency said.
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