Average monthly wages in November last year rose 2.11 percent from a year earlier to NT$45,610, while average total wages, including overtime pay, performance-based commissions and bonuses, increased 0.84 percent to NT$51,911, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
Among service providers, financial and insurance institutions offered relatively high monthly wages of NT$66,226, followed by NT$65,567 offered by video content publishers and telecoms, the agency said.
Employees at electronics suppliers enjoyed relatively high monthly wages of NT$53,783, in the manufacturing sector, it said.
Photo courtesy of the Workforce Development Agency via CNA
On the other hand, hair salons and hospitality operators offered relatively low monthly wages of NT$35,068 and NT$35,295 respectively, it said.
In the first 11 months of last year, average monthly wages grew 2.45 percent to NT$45,457, while total monthly wages expanded 1.47 percent to NT$58,598, the agency said.
Both gains slipped into negative territory after factoring in inflation, Census Department Deputy Director Chen Hui-hsin (陳惠欣) said, pinning the blame mainly on poor exports and consumer price hikes.
The DGBAS also said the job market in November showed a mild improvement with the number of workers hired by the industrial and services sectors rising 0.05 percent, or by 5,000 people, to 8.19 million, even though manufacturers shed 1,000 staff, Chen said.
She hesitated to say that the manufacturing industry is coming out of the woods and said that longer observation is necessary to pass final judgement.
Overtime averaged 14.8 hours for the month, up 1.3 hours from a year earlier but lower than an average of 15 to 16 hours a month seen during past economic upturns, Chen said.
The labor accession rate weakened 0.06 percentage points to 2.05 percent, while the dropout rate shed 0.04 percentage points to 1.99 percent, the DGBAS said.
Meanwhile, job vacancies this month grew to 1.02 million, a record high for the same period, as hospitality operators, retailers, wholesale and direct-sales firms continue to enjoy robust business, the online 104 Job Bank (104人力銀行) said on Wednesday.
It is the 11th consecutive month that the number of vacancies stands above 1 million, the job bank said.
Job offers are the highest from hotels and restaurants with 213,000, followed by 164,000 vacancies at wholesale, retail and direct-sales operators, it said.
Electronics, software and semiconductor suppliers are looking for 150,000 employees, while traditional manufacturers need 109,000 workers, it said. Construction firms and real-estate brokers are seeking to fill 83,000 positions, it added.
The hiring activity comes amid mixed views on the part of firms about their business prospects ahead, the job bank said, with 29.1 percent looking at a business pickup this year and another 29.1 percent expecting downward revisions, while a relatively large 41.9 percent voiced neutral views.
Hotels and restaurants are the most optimistic, as private consumption proved strong last year and the momentum is most likely to sustain this year, the job bank said.
Construction companies display the weakest sentiment as the government last year introduced a spate of unfavorable measures to cool the property market and ongoing building material price hikes are sapping their profit margin, it said.
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