A 4-percent salary raise for public employees that has been approved by the Executive Yuan will benefit around one million people, including contract workers, after its implementation on Jan. 1 next year, Taiwan officials said Thursday.
Lin Chin-hui (???), head of the Department of Remuneration and Welfare under the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration (DGPA), said about one million people -- 820,000 military personnel, public school teachers and civil servants, and 200,000 contract workers -- are expected to benefit from the salary hike.
The salary-hike decision was made to "share the nation's economic fruit with its people," Executive Yuan spokesperson Lo Ping-cheng (???) told reporters following a weekly Cabinet meeting, citing Premier Su Tseng-chang (???), who heard a report by DGPA officials in the meeting.
The pay-raise proposal requires a total budget of NT$31.4 billion (US$1.13 billion) -- NT$15.3 billion allocated by the Executive Yuan and NT$16.1 billion provided by local governments that will be funded by the central government's tax revenues.
The proposal, approved by the Executive Yuan at the end of October, has been submitted to the Legislative Yuan for review.
Taiwan's public employees last received a pay raise, which was 3 percent, in 2018.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel