Average monthly take-home pay in March rose 2.51 percent from a year earlier to NT$43,259, while total wages, including overtime and performance-based compensation, grew 2.49 percent to NT$48,897, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
The pay increase came after some sectors recovered from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, while others remain affected, the agency said.
Recovery is evident for makers of electronic components and metal products, as well as construction firms and property brokers, DGBAS Deputy Director Chen Hui-hsin (陳惠欣) told a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: Tsai Chang-sheng, Taipei Times
There were 8.16 million workers in March, an increase of 12,000 from a month earlier, but 11,000 fewer than in December 2019, Chen said.
“While economic activity is largely unaffected by the pandemic, some sectors have not recovered due to lingering travel restrictions,” Chen said.
Electronic component manufacturers, building companies and property brokers hired more workers than a year earlier, but payrolls at warehousing, logistics service providers, restaurants, hotels and travel agencies remained smaller, Chen added.
Tech firms have benefited from a boom in demand for devices used in remote working and schooling, while metal product makers have benefitted from a surge in raw material prices.
For the first quarter, regular wages gained 2 percent to NT$43,065 per month from the same period last year, while total monthly compensation increased 2.29 percent to NT$66,822, the report showed.
Overall pay for property brokers rose 15.51 percent last quarter and 6.06 percent for electronics makers, Chen said, adding that tech firms and real-estate sectors are experiencing a boom.
Consequently, electronics firms added 8,000 workers to their payroll during the January-to-March period, while metal product suppliers hired 5,000, the official said, adding that the construction sector increased its workforce by 7,000.
Labor accession rates rose 0.73 percentage points to 2.64 percent in March and increased 0.06 percentage points to 2.22 percent in the first quarter, as more people joined the labor pool, it said.
By amount, airlines offered the highest monthly take-home pay at NT$74,292, followed by electricity and gas suppliers at NT$65,164, and insurance and financial institutions at NT$64,040, it said.
Transportation companies had the lowest monthly wages at NT$28,352, lower than educational facilities excluding public and private schools at NT$28,393, it said.
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