TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's average monthly regular salary rose 2.88% year-on-year to NT$48,981 (US$1,520) in the first half of the year, while inflation-adjusted wages increased 1.16%, marking the strongest real wage growth in six years for the same period, according to the government's statistics bureau.
The bureau said the Consumer Price Index rose 1.69% year-on-year in the first half, allowing real regular wages to maintain positive growth. Including bonuses and overtime pay, average total monthly earnings increased 3.48% year-on-year during the first six months of the year, per LTN.
The bureau also reported a sharp increase in overtime work in the manufacturing sector. Average monthly overtime hours per employee reached 17.8 hours in the first half of the year, the highest level in 22 years.
Among individual industries, employees in electronic component manufacturing worked an average of 28.8 overtime hours per month, while those in the computer, electronics and optical products sector worked 16.9 hours. Both figures were record highs in nearly 47 years of available statistics.
The number of employed workers stood at 8.584 million at the end of June, an increase of 1,000 from May and 84,000 from the same month last year. Manufacturing recorded the largest monthly increase, adding 4,000 workers, followed by construction with 3,000, per a bureau press release.
The average number of employed workers during the first half of the year was 8.571 million, up 77,000 from a year earlier. The accommodation and food services sector recorded the largest increase, adding 24,000 workers, followed by manufacturing with 17,000 and wholesale and retail trade with 15,000.
The bureau said international oil prices rose after the outbreak of the Iran war at the end of February, but government price-stabilization measures helped contain the impact on domestic prices. The CPI's 1.69% increase in the first half was the lowest for the period in nearly five years, allowing real wages to continue rising, per LTN.
