The Ministry of Labor yesterday announced that the minimum monthly wage would rise for a 10th consecutive year next year, although by less than what labor groups had been calling for.
Starting on Jan. 1, the minimum monthly wage is set to increase 3.2 percent to NT$29,500, while the minimum hourly wage would climb by the same percentage, from NT$190 to NT$196, the ministry said.
Both adjustments still require approval from the Executive Yuan, which is expected to be granted.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The announcement followed a review by the Minimum Wage Deliberation Committee, which considered factors including growth in the consumer price index (CPI) and GDP.
The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) recently raised its GDP growth forecast for this year to 4.45 percent, up from a previous estimate of 3.1 percent, citing stronger-than-expected export performance.
The DGBAS also forecast that the CPI would grow 1.76 percent this year.
Labor groups felt the wage increase should have been closer to 4 percent.
They had urged the ministry to raise the minimum monthly wage to NT$29,734 and the minimum hourly wage to NT$198, saying that stronger increases were needed to help workers cope with rising living costs and to ensure they shared in the benefits of economic growth.
Adjustments of that size would better reflect inflation and increase the purchasing power of low-income workers, thereby supporting broader consumer demand, Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions president Tai Kuo-jung (戴國榮) said.
As the salaries of public servants, teachers and military personnel rose by an average of 3 percent this year, the minimum wage should rise by at least the same margin, he added.
Persistent inflation and climbing living costs are eroding real wages, while Taiwan’s economy is forecast to expand by more than 4 percent next year, yet those gains have yet to reach grassroots workers, raising the risk of negative real wage growth and a widening wealth gap, Tai said.
Ahead of yesterday’s meeting, labor groups expressed concern that the government might cite US tariff policy, which imposes 20 percent duties on many goods imported from Taiwan, as a reason to limit the increase.
The wage increase is the second minimum wage hike since President William Lai (賴清德) took office on May 20 last year. The previous eight consecutive increases occurred during the administration of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
Both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a political foundation based on the “1992 consensus” and opposition to Taiwanese independence, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today said during her meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Both sides of the Strait should plan and build institutionalized and sustainable mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation based on that foundation to make peaceful development across the Strait irreversible, she said. Peace is a shared moral value across the Strait, and both sides should move beyond political confrontation to seek institutionalized solutions to prevent war, she said. Mutually beneficial cross-strait relations are what the
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
RSS