TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The latest report issued by the Ministry of Labor on Tuesday (Feb. 25) shows that Taiwanese women need to work an additional 52 days to get the same pay as their male colleagues.

The ministry has designated Feb. 21 as the country’s Equal Pay Day for 2020 based on a survey of people’s salaries last year. The survey reveals that in 2019 the average hourly rate of female workers in Taiwan was NT$292, which accounts for 85.8 percent of their male colleagues’ hourly rate.

The gender pay gap last year was 14.2 percent. In other word, the incomes of women in Taiwan were nearly two months less than those of their colleagues of the opposite sex.

The ministry said that in addition to gender, types of jobs, work experience, and individual performance could also be deciding factors in the wage gap. Looking back at the past decade, the gender pay gap in Taiwan has gradually reduced over the years: from 17.9 percent in 2009 to 14.2 percent in 2019, said the ministry.

The gender pay gap in Taiwan has been smaller than neighboring countries, such as South Korea and Japan, and even the United State over the years, said the ministry. In 2018, the gap in South Korea was 32.2 percent, 32.3 percent in Japan, and 18.5 in the U.S., while Taiwan’s was only 14.6 percent, according to official data.