The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) earlier this year announced that Taiwanese workers’ average monthly wage, which includes their regular salary and irregular income, such as overtime pay and bonuses, was NT$55,754 last year, up 2.94 percent year-on-year.
However, the average monthly real wage, which only includes a person’s regular salary, fixed stipends and bonuses adjusted for inflation, totaled NT$41,422, down 0.04 percent from a year earlier — the first decline since 2017. In other words, the pay raise was offset by inflation last year.
Late last month, the media cited economist Marcel Fratzscher, director of the German Institute for Economic Research, as saying that it is “absolutely necessary” to increase wages to compensate employees for sharp commodity price hikes, so as to sustain consumption levels.
Without doing so, companies would get into trouble and unemployment would rise, leading to a spiral of weaker growth and higher inflation.
The Bank of Japan said that pay raises are a driver of healthy inflation, adding that as many Japanese employees have not yet received a pay raise, they are finding it difficult to afford the same products at higher prices, and consumption is likely to slow down.
After seeing this, most Japanese companies hoping to raise prices dare not do so.
The government should encourage enterprises to raise wages, so as to relieve the pressure they face when inflation hits.
Dino Wei is an information engineer.
Translated by Eddy Chang
Two major Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-People’s Liberation Army (PLA) power demonstrations in November 2024 highlight the urgency for Taiwan to pursue a military buildup and deterrence agenda that can take back control of its destiny. First, the CCP-PLA’s planned future for Taiwan of war, bloody suppression, and use as a base for regional aggression was foreshadowed by the 9th and largest PLA-Russia Joint Bomber Exercise of Nov. 29 and 30. It was double that of previous bomber exercises, with both days featuring combined combat strike groups of PLA Air Force and Russian bombers escorted by PLAAF and Russian fighters, airborne early warning
Since the end of former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration, the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation has taken Taiwanese students to visit China and invited Chinese students to Taiwan. Ma calls those activities “cross-strait exchanges,” yet the trips completely avoid topics prohibited by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), such as democracy, freedom and human rights — all of which are universal values. During the foundation’s most recent Chinese student tour group, a Fudan University student used terms such as “China, Taipei” and “the motherland” when discussing Taiwan’s recent baseball victory. The group’s visit to Zhongshan Girls’ High School also received prominent coverage in
India and China have taken a significant step toward disengagement of their military troops after reaching an agreement on the long-standing disputes in the Galwan Valley. For government officials and policy experts, this move is welcome, signaling the potential resolution of the enduring border issues between the two countries. However, it is crucial to consider the potential impact of this disengagement on India’s relationship with Taiwan. Over the past few years, there have been important developments in India-Taiwan relations, including exchanges between heads of state soon after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third electoral victory. This raises the pressing question:
YouTuber Pa Chiung (八炯) posted a video on Friday last week about how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) bribes Taiwanese online influencers in its “united front” efforts to manipulate public opinion in Taiwan. The video showed how China’s United Front Work Department (UFWD) provided Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源) with the tools with which to create anti-Taiwanese independence content. Whereas official propaganda works well within China to a domestic audience, international audiences, with their access to less controlled content, present a problem for the CCP, which wants to keep a tight rein on the narrative. However, the party has found a
RSS