The average starting salary of university graduates was NT$28,116 per month last year, an increase of NT$461, or 1.7 percent, from the previous year, a Ministry of Labor survey showed.
It was also the highest figure for university graduates’ first job since 1991, when the ministry started its annual survey on wages in different occupations.
The previous high was recorded in 2000, when the average starting salary for a university graduate was NT$28,016 per month.
In other words, the average monthly salary increased by NT$100 over the past 16 years.
Hu Meng-yu (胡孟瑀), head of the 95 Youth Labor Union, a non-profit organization made up of college students and academics, was cited by the Chinese-language United Daily News (UDN) as saying that the growth in starting salaries for university graduates had failed to keep up with price inflation at McDonald’s.
As a result, real starting salaries have fallen over the past 16 years, Hu said.
A hospitality management student at a private university surnamed Wu (吳) said she was surprised to find during her internship at a hotel that a full-time employee at the hotel earned only NT$24,000 a month, the report said.
Wu said that after paying her school loan, rent, travel and food expenses, such a monthly salary would leave her with little disposable income.
The survey shows that among first-time employees across all educational levels, the average monthly salary last year was NT$26,723.
By sector, first-time employees in finance and insurance earned NT$31,025 per month on average, followed by NT$28,879 in the professional, scientific and technological sectors, and NT$23,598 in the service industry, including beauty salon and auto repair workers.
The survey was conducted in August last year covering 9,786 companies, the ministry said.
Lo Yi-ling (羅怡玲), head of the ministry’s Statistics Department, attributed the growth in entry-level wages to a recovering economy and the increase in the minimum wage.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
PEAK MONTHS: Data showed that on average 25 to 27 typhoons formed in the Pacific and South China seas annually, with about four forming per month in July and October One of three tropical depressions in the Pacific strengthened into a typhoon yesterday afternoon, while two others are expected to become typhoons by today, Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecaster Lee Ming-hsiang (李名翔) said yesterday. The outer circulation of Tropical Depression No. 20, now Typhoon Mitag, has brought light rain to Hualien, Taitung and areas in the south, Lee said, adding that as of 2pm yesterday, Mitag was moving west-northwest at 16kph, but is not expected to directly affect Taiwan. It was possible that Tropical Depression No. 21 would become a typhoon as soon as last night, he said. It was moving in a
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
A Taiwanese academic yesterday said that Chinese Ambassador to Denmark Wang Xuefeng (王雪峰) disrespected Denmark and Japan when he earlier this year allegedly asked Japan’s embassy to make Taiwan’s representatives leave an event in Copenhagen. The Danish-language Berlingske on Sunday reported the incident in an article with the headline “The emperor’s birthday ended in drama in Copenhagen: More conflict may be on the way between Denmark and China.” It said that on Feb. 26, the Japanese embassy in Denmark held an event for Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s birthday, with about 200 guests in attendance, including representatives from Taiwan. After addressing the Japanese hosts, Wang
RSS