Taiwan's Basic Monthly Wage Hiked to NT$20,008

H. W. Chen, Taiwan's newly appointed labor minister, recently announced that the island's basic monthly wages will be lifted to NT$20,008 (US$666.93) from the existing NT$19,273 (US$642.43), effective July 2015, for an increase of NT$735 (US$24.5) or 3.81%. At the same time, the minimum hourly pay will be boosted 4.35% from the existing NT$115 (US$3.83), to NT$120 (US$4).

This will be the fifth minimum wage hike since Ma Ying-jeou of the ruling KMT Party assumed office in 2008. It will benefit a total of 2.31 million workers, including full-time and part-time domestic workers and alien laborers, but at an additional labor cost to their employers of an estimated NT$11.788 billion (US$392.93 million) a year.

The Ministry of Labor (MOL) will reportedly, within three months, form an ad hoc committee to hold quarterly meetings to assess the level of minimum wages in light of the growth rate of the island's consumer price index (CPI), prospective economic climate, industrial productivity, and related economic indexes.

The Cabinet-level Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) predicts that Taiwan's economic growth this year will be 3.41% and that the CPI will rise 1.64%. Both of these figures will be considered in calculating future rises in the minimum wage. (JL)