The Ministry of Labor (MOL) has set Feb. 20 as this year’s Equal Pay Day, one day earlier than last year, based on estimates that Taiwanese women needed to work that far into this year to earn the same amount as men did last year.
The decision was based on the calculation that women had to work 51 more days on average than men to earn the same income, because their salaries were 14 percent lower on average than those of men last year.
The average hourly salary for female employees last year was NT$296, compared with NT$344 for men, the ministry said.
Equal Pay Day was set on Feb. 23 for 2017, 2018 and 2019, meaning that women had to work 54 more days than men to make the same annual income, because their salaries were 14.6 percent lower on average.
Over the past decade, the average hourly wage gap in Taiwan has declined from 17.1 percent in 2010 to 14 percent last year, translating to a drop from 63 to 51 extra work days for women to achieve the same pay as men, the ministry said.
Despite the gap, Taiwan fares better on pay equality than other countries, it said.
In 2019, the pay rate gap between men and women was 31.9 percent in Japan, 30.6 in South Korea and 17.7 percent in the US.
Over the past decade, that gap was reduced by 3.1 percentage points in Taiwan, 3.3 percentage points in Japan, 7.8 percentage points in South Korea and 1.1 percentage points in the US, the ministry said.
The Equal Pay Day concept was established in 1996 by the National Committee on Pay Equity in the US, with the aim of raising public awareness about the gap between men’s and women’s wages.
The ministry began announcing Equal Pay Day in 2012.
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