The gender pay gap in Taiwan was 15.8 percent last year, an increase of 0.7 percent from 2023, with women earning an average of NT$327 per hour to the NT$389 earned by men, the Ministry of Labor said today.
The calculation is based on data from a wage survey conducted by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, the ministry said.
Women would have had to work an additional 58 days to earn the same amount as men last year, an increase of two days from 2023, it said.
Photo: Lee Chin-hui, Taipei Times
The ministry calculates an “equal pay day” every year based on this data.
This year’s equal pay day is Feb. 27, meaning that the average woman would have had to continue working from Jan. 1 to Feb. 27 to earn the same as the average man last year.
Last year’s equal pay day was on Feb. 25, the ministry said.
The gender pay gap last year was down 2.1 percent from 17.9 percent in 2011, ministry data showed.
The additional days women would need to work to earn the same as men was down eight days from 66 days in 2011.
Taiwan’s gender pay gap is lower than Japan’s 29.7 percent and South Korea’s 29 percent, the ministry said.
Some industries, such as electronics manufacturing, have a large gender pay discrepancy, the ministry said in analyzing the reasons behind the pay gap.
The gender pay gap in the electronics manufacturing industry was 41.2 percent last year, it said.
Excluding that industry, the overall gender pay gap was 11.5 percent, it said.
In other sectors such as the food and healthcare industries, wages grow differently for men and women depending on the type of job, it added.
Additional reporting by CNA
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