Taipei, Dec. 1 (CNA) Median earnings in Taiwan grew more than 2 percent in 2022, the fastest pace of growth in four years due to wage hikes and an increase in bonuses in the tech sector, according to the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).
Median earnings, which are comprised of regular wages and non-regular wages, such as bonuses and part-time pay, totaled NT$518,000 (US$16,497) in 2022, up 2.37 percent from 2021, DGBAS data released Thursday showed.
It was the strongest growth in median earnings since 2018, when such earnings rose 3.52 percent.
Average earnings in 2022, meanwhile, was NT$693,000, up 3.44 percent from a year earlier, the data showed. It also hit the highest growth level since 2018, when average earnings rose 3.82 percent from the previous year.
Nov. 28: Taiwan’s 2023 GDP growth forecast cut to 1.42%, lowest since 2008: DGBAS
Nov. 27: Taiwan’s economy back in contraction mode in October: NDC
Nov. 13: Service sector output accounts for over 60% of 2022 GDP: MOEA
DGBAS Census Department Deputy Director Chen Hui-hsin (陳惠欣) said the COVID-19 pandemic, which led more people to work from home, pushed up demand for tech gadgets and boosted high-tech company profits, prompting those employers to raise wages and bonuses in 2022.
Chen said that because Taiwan’s gross domestic product rose 6.62 percent in 2022, up from a 3.39 percent increase in 2021, many employers were more willing to provide higher compensation and bonuses the following year.
Among major employment sectors in Taiwan, the DGBAS said utilities had median earnings of NT$1.088 million in 2022, followed by the financial and insurance sector, which had median earnings of NT$1.037 million.
The publishing, broadcasting and information communication service sector was next with median earnings of NT$754,000, the DGBAS said.
The manufacturing sector, which employed most of Taiwan’s workforce, had median earnings of NT$539,000 in 2022, with the figure in the electronics component sector and computer/optoelectronics industry topping NT$700,000, the DGBAS said.
Nov. 29: Taiwan’s annual average wage rises to eight-year high: Job bank survey
Nov. 24: Number of workers in NT$30,000 pay bracket drops to new low in Taiwan
Nov. 11: Inflation sends 2023 January-September real earnings down 0.78%
Cities and counties
By cities and counties, the DGBAS said, Hsinchu City had the highest median earning in Taiwan at NT$821,000, ahead of Taipei City (NT$701,000) and Hsinchu County (NT$692,000), the DGBAS added.
According to the DGBAS, 44 percent of the residents of Hsinchu City, some of whom work in the Hsinchu Science Park, were in the information communication industry, and their median earnings and average earnings in the city hit NT$1.289 million and NT$1.772 million, respectively.
The DGBAS said the higher median earnings in Taipei came because many people in the capital city were hired by the retail/wholesale, financial/insurance, and the publishing, broadcasting and information communications sectors.
The median earnings in the financial/insurance sector in the city totaled NT$1.133 million.
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