Financial and Technology News

DGBAS says real monthly earnings reach new high

 2015/12/01
SLOW RECOVERY:While setting a new record, the figure, NT$47,567, was still less than 1 percent higher than the one set in 2000, DGBAS statistics showed.
 
Average real monthly earnings in Taiwan in the first 10 months of this year finally returned to their pre-2008/2009 global financial crisis level and rose above the all-time high set in 2004, government figures released yesterday showed.
Average real monthly earnings, which include irregular income such as overtime and bonuses and are adjusted for inflation, amounted to NT$47,567, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics figures showed.
The figure was up 3.33 percent from the same period last year and eclipsed the previous high for real monthly earnings over a 10-month period since the global financial crisis — NT$46,182 set in 2011.
The previous all-time high for average real monthly earnings during the 10-month period was NT$47,477 in 2004.
As in many other industrialized countries, Taiwan has suffered from stagnant real wages over the past two decades, a trend exacerbated by the global economic meltdown seven years ago and the widening inequality in income distribution that resulted.
The average real monthly earnings figure for January to October, though the highest ever, was still less than 1 percent higher than for the same period in 2000.
Average nominal earnings amounted to NT$49,265 for the first 10 months of the year, up 2.89 percent from a year earlier, the agency said.
Average real monthly salary (including regular wages and fixed stipends) was NT$37,330, up 1.79 percent from the same period last year.
It was the highest average real salary since the global financial crisis occurred, but still short of the average salaries of more than NT$38,000 recorded in pre-financial crisis years.
The average regular salary in October before being adjusted for inflation was NT$38,941, up 1.2 percent from the same period last year and up 0.49 percent from a month earlier, the agency said.
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