The hourly pay of male workers in Taiwan last year averaged NT$361, while that of female workers was NT$304, a gap of 15.8 percent, the Ministry of Labor said on Tuesday as it announced Feb. 27 as equal pay day.
The wage difference means that women in Taiwan must work 58 days more to catch up with men in terms of annual earnings, the ministry said, citing data from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.
That is why equal pay day would be marked on Feb. 27, because it is the 58th day of the year, the ministry added.
The gap between men’s and women’s hourly wages fell from 14.9 percent in 2019 to 14.8 percent in 2020, before jumping to 15.8 percent last year, it said.
The ministry attributed the rise to a larger hourly pay increase of 4.6 percent received by men last year, compared with 3.3 percent given to women.
Over the past decade, women have received higher average annual pay hikes than men, except for last year, said Jasmine Mei (梅家瑗), head of the ministry’s Department of Statistics.
In the hospitality and restaurant sector, where women make up 56.3 percent of the workforce, employees received a 1.2 percent increase in hourly pay on average, due to a nationwide level 3 COVID-19 alert implemented last year, while in the male-dominated manufacturing sector, employees received a 5.5 percent rise in hourly pay thanks to booming foreign trade, Mei said.
The gender pay gap in the manufacturing sector also widened, as women employed in the electronics manufacturing industry received an hourly pay hike of 6.7 percent last year, lower than the 13.2 percent given to their male counterparts, she added.
However, the gender pay gap in Taiwan is still smaller than in several other countries.
Japan last year had a gender wage gap of 30.7 percent, South Korea’s was 30.4 percent and the US’ 16.9 percent, ministry data showed.
A study published by online booking platform Expedia revealed searches for travel to Taipei have ballooned 2,786 percent following the lifting of COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions due to the city being a “designation dupe” for Seoul. The TikTok trend for duping — referring to substituting a designation for a more inexpensive alternative — helped propel interest in Taipei, it said in a consumer survey titled “Unpack ‘24,” which was conducted from September to October in 14 countries. Location dupes are “every bit as delightful as the tried-and-true places travelers love,” Expedia trend tracker Melanie Fish said of the year’s popular alternatives, which
SAFETY IN REGULATION: The proposal states that Chiayi should assess whether it is viable to establish such a district and draft rules to protect clients and sex workers The Chiayi City Council passed a motion yesterday to assess the viability of establishing a regulated red-light district. The council yesterday held its last session of the year, at which its fiscal 2024 budget was approved, along with 61 other proposals. The proposal to assess the viability of establishing a red-light district was put forward by independent Chiayi City Councilor Molly Yen (顏色不分藍綠支持性專區顏色田慎節). The proposal cited 2011 amendments to the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), which stipulate that city and county governments can pass autonomous regulations on the sex trade to manage the industry and guarantee industry workers’ rights. A ban on the
A small-scale protest that called on the government to cancel its plan to welcome Indian migrant workers in a bid to tackle Taiwan’s labor shortage was held in Taipei yesterday. During the protest, comprised of a few dozen people staged in front of the Presidential Office on Ketagalan Boulevard, the protest’s chief initiator, a woman identified only as “Yuna” said they wanted the central government to reconsider allowing migrant workers from India to enter Taiwan. Most people in Taiwan had little knowledge about the potential plan to allow in Indian migrant workers until a report in the media last month, she
CHINA illness surge: Of 88 travelers from China, Hong Kong and Macau with respiratory symptoms who were encouraged to get tested upon arrival, 70.6% had the flu Two hundred and sixty people with COVID-19 were hospitalized and 31 deaths related to the virus were reported last week — the highest numbers in four weeks, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that cases are expected to peak next month. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said that of the 260 people hospitalized last week with moderate to severe COVID-19, 98 percent had not received the Omicron XBB.1.5-adapted COVID-19 vaccine. Among the people hospitalized this year, 78 percent were aged 65 or older, while most of the those who were hospitalized or died have or had