The planned minimum wage hike will increase the financial burden on employers by NT$16.29 billion (US$537.62 million) per year, including higher insurance premiums based on the higher salaries, the Ministry of Labor said on Monday.
The ministry’s Basic Wage Deliberation Committee on Friday last week proposed raising the minimum monthly wage from NT$21,009 to NT$22,000, a 4.72 percent increase, and the minimum hourly wage from NT$133 to NT$140.
The following day the ministry said the increases would be implemented on Jan. 1 next year, if they were approved by the Cabinet and would benefit 1.67 million employees who are paid by the month and 390,300 who are paid by the hour.
The burden on employees and the government would rise by NT$982 million and NT$757 million per year respectively, it said.
The rise will also increase the contributions of employers, employees and the government to labor insurance, employment insurance and national health insurance premiums, which are calculated based on employees’ pay levels.
Employees who will receive higher minimum monthly wages and their employers will see their burdens increase by NT$774 million and NT$10.86 billion respectively, with the burden on the government increasing by NT$574 million, the ministry said.
Employees who are paid by the hour and their employers will see increases of NT$208 million and NT$5.43 billion respectively, with the burden on the government increasing by NT$183 million, it added.
A recently discovered supernova is the brightest and closest to Earth identified in the past decade, and can be observed with basic equipment, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said on Wednesday. The supernova has an absolute magnitude of 14.9 in luminosity and is in the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101) about 21 million light-years from Earth. It was discovered early on May 20 by Japanese amateur astronomer Koichi Itagaki, who immediately reported the finding to the International Astronomical Union, the museum said. The supernova was designated SN 2023ixf following the astronomical naming conventions for supernovas, it added. The museum said that it observed
Tropical storm Guchol is moving in a northeasterly direction off the east coast of the Philippines and will not hit Taiwan, but will impact local weather starting on Friday, the Central Weather Bureau said Thursday. The storm would bring a low-pressure system northward toward the vicinity of Taiwan, forecaster Chao Hung (趙竑) said. Northern Taiwan will see intermittent rain showers in the morning, and thunderstorms in the afternoon on Friday, he said, adding that rain would be heavier on the east coast and in the central-southern mountainous areas. Rainfall would continue into Saturday, and would spread throughout Taiwan proper, he
Exiled Chinese democracy advocate Wang Dan (王丹) yesterday denied an accusation by former Taiwanese political worker Lee Yuan-chun (李援軍) that Wang had sexually harassed him in a hotel room in New York nine years ago. There was a huge gap between Lee’s accusation and his own understanding and memory, Wang wrote on Facebook, adding it was hard for him to respond further regarding a “unilateral description” made by someone else. Wang made the remarks after his initial response on Facebook was met with criticism, with people saying he did not directly address the allegation. Lee on Friday wrote on Facebook that he
A man was arrested in Hsinchu on Saturday on suspicion of filming women in the women’s washroom of a shopping mall in the city, local Chinese-language media reported on Thursday. The man was arrested at around noon on Saturday when a woman using a stall in the mall’s washroom noticed a cellphone being held above her from the neighboring stall, reports said. The woman ran out of the washroom and yelled to her husband to help her, after which the suspect – who was dressed as a woman – attempted to flee, but was subdued by other men until police