The Executive Yuan last week approved a Ministry of Labor proposal to raise the monthly minimum wage by 4.05 percent to NT$27,470, and the minimum hourly wage by NT$7 to NT$183. The revisions to the current monthly minimum wage of NT$26,400 and hourly minimum wage of NT$176 are to take effect on Jan. 1 next year, benefiting more than 2.39 million workers, of which approximately 2.05 million would be Taiwanese citizens, the ministry estimated.
The minimum wage is designed to safeguard people’s basic livelihoods — especially marginal workers such as apprentices and part-time and unskilled workers — and represents the lowest hourly or monthly pay that employers may legally offer workers. Given rising inflationary pressures — the consumer price index (CPI) is forecast to grow 2.14 percent and core CPI is expected to rise 5.51 percent this year — the government is raising the minimum wage to help workers cope with cost of living increases and ensure real purchasing power.
It is the eighth consecutive year that the minimum wage has been raised since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office in 2016. Over the past eight years, the monthly minimum wage has increased from NT$20,008 to NT$27,470, a total adjustment of 37.3 percent, while the hourly minimum wage has risen from NT$120 to NT$183, a total raise of 52.5 percent.
Last week, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) also demanded that the Ministry of Labor swiftly examine whether further revisions are necessary for an existing draft proposal for minimum wage legislation. Currently, there is no law that authorizes regular minimum wage increases, resulting in heated negotiations among all parties at an annual review committee meeting in the third quarter of each year.
Thus, it is necessary to pass minimum wage legislation as soon as possible, as this would allow the nation to establish a solid foundation of review standards with a stable and transparent formula for calculating wages, while reducing tensions during the review committee meeting. As Taiwan’s income distribution has become increasingly M-shaped, and economic inequality is worsening, a special law is needed for the minimum wage, so that workers in different industries and minority groups can receive the most timely protection and support.
However, the minimum wage hike is still not enough to tackle Taiwan’s perennial low pay problem, where about 25.5 percent of salaried workers have not had a raise in the past five years and nearly 90 percent are unsatisfied with their pay, the highest percentage in five years, a survey conducted by the 1111 Job Bank Web site showed earlier this month. Moreover, the latest wage increases affect only 2.39 million workers, accomplishing nothing for about 80 percent of the nation’s salaried workers who earn above the minimum wage.
For example, the average monthly starting salary for college graduates is about NT$31,000, according to the ministry’s data. Although higher than the monthly minimum wage, such a salary level does not guarantee a comfortable living for many, as steady consumer price increases in recent years have cut into people’s disposable income and the salary of new workers has been stagnant for many years.
That is why minimum wage increases are often considered insignificant for many, as the problem of low wages, especially for young people, stems from structural issues such as bottlenecks in domestic industrial upgrades, many companies moving production lines abroad and a growing mismatch between Taiwanese workers’ educations and labor-market needs. The solution to the low wage problem also demands closer and more effective dialogue among unions, social groups, enterprises, education institutions and government agencies.
The Executive Yuan recently revised a page of its Web site on ethnic groups in Taiwan, replacing the term “Han” (漢族) with “the rest of the population.” The page, which was updated on March 24, describes the composition of Taiwan’s registered households as indigenous (2.5 percent), foreign origin (1.2 percent) and the rest of the population (96.2 percent). The change was picked up by a social media user and amplified by local media, sparking heated discussion over the weekend. The pan-blue and pro-China camp called it a politically motivated desinicization attempt to obscure the Han Chinese ethnicity of most Taiwanese.
On Wednesday last week, the Rossiyskaya Gazeta published an article by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) asserting the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) territorial claim over Taiwan effective 1945, predicated upon instruments such as the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation. The article further contended that this de jure and de facto status was subsequently reaffirmed by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 of 1971. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs promptly issued a statement categorically repudiating these assertions. In addition to the reasons put forward by the ministry, I believe that China’s assertions are open to questions in international
The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment on Friday last week to add four national holidays and make Workers’ Day a national holiday for all sectors — a move referred to as “four plus one.” The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who used their combined legislative majority to push the bill through its third reading, claim the holidays were chosen based on their inherent significance and social relevance. However, in passing the amendment, they have stuck to the traditional mindset of taking a holiday just for the sake of it, failing to make good use of
As strategic tensions escalate across the vast Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan has emerged as more than a potential flashpoint. It is the fulcrum upon which the credibility of the evolving American-led strategy of integrated deterrence now rests. How the US and regional powers like Japan respond to Taiwan’s defense, and how credible the deterrent against Chinese aggression proves to be, will profoundly shape the Indo-Pacific security architecture for years to come. A successful defense of Taiwan through strengthened deterrence in the Indo-Pacific would enhance the credibility of the US-led alliance system and underpin America’s global preeminence, while a failure of integrated deterrence would
RSS