Average wages in the local industrial and service sectors in the first 11 months of last year after adjustments for inflation grew 1.99 percent from a year earlier, the highest wage growth in six years, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said on Friday.
Data compiled by the DGBAS showed that real average monthly wages — comprising regular wages, bonuses and overtime pay — in the two sectors stood at NT$56,614 (US$1,717) during the 11-month period, up from NT$55,507 in the same period a year ago.
DGBAS Census Department Deputy Director Tan Wen-ling (譚文玲) said the 1.99 percent growth in real average monthly wages showed many employers were keen to give bonuses that reflected improving operations, which offset the impact of inflation.
Photo: CNA
The consumer price index rose 2.18 percent from a year earlier, above the 2 percent alert set by the central bank.
Average nominal wages in the same period rose 4.22 percent from a year earlier to NT$60,985, the data showed.
From January to November, real average monthly regular wages rose 0.55 percent from a year earlier to NT$43,076, while nominal average monthly regular wages rose 2.75 percent to NT$46,401, the data indicated.
In November alone, average regular wages rose 3.04 percent from a year earlier to NT$46,667, while average bonuses and overtime reached NT$8,845, lifting average overall wages to NT$55,512, up 6 percent, the DGBAS said.
In the same month, the median regular wage was NT$37,465, up 3.39 percent from a year earlier, it added.
The manufacturing sector, the lodging, food and beverage industry, and the retail and wholesale industry reported NT$44,429, NT$34,347 and NT$45,768 respectively in average regular wages during the 11-month period, all below the average of NT$46,401, the DGBAS said.
However, the electronic components industry in the manufacturing sector reported average regular wages of NT$55,349 in the 11 months, higher than the average, with the figures reported by the professional science and technology, audio and video publication, and financial industries also beating the overall average, the DGBAS added.
Meanwhile, the number of monthly overtime hours in the electronic components industry hit 26.2 hours in November, the second-highest for any month in more than 44 years, trailing only 27.1 hours in October.
Tan said the higher overtime hours in November came as strong global demand for artificial intelligence applications and high-performance computing devices, as well as peak season effects, pushed up production, which required more staffing.
In November, the number of overtime hours in the entire manufacturing sector reached 17.4 hours, the second-highest in eight years, behind only the 17.5 hours recorded in October, the DGBAS said.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts’ estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue. US President Donald Trump’s trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction. However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designer specializing in server chips, expects revenue to decline this year due to sagging demand for 5-nanometer artificial intelligence (AI) chips from a North America-based major customer, a company executive said yesterday. That would be the first contraction in revenue for Alchip as it has been enjoying strong revenue growth over the past few years, benefiting from cloud-service providers’ moves to reduce dependence on Nvidia Corp’s expensive AI chips by building their own AI accelerator by outsourcing chip design. The 5-nanometer chip was supposed to be a new growth engine as the lifecycle
RSS