Real regular wages in Taiwan saw their steepest yearly decline for a decade in 2022, according to the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).
Data compiled by the DGBAS showed the average nominal wage in Taiwan's industrial and service sectors last year totaled NT$44,417 (US$1,461) a month in 2022, up 2.80 percent from a year earlier, a new high in 23 years.
Adjusted for inflation, however, wages fell 0.15 percent from a year earlier to NT$41,357 a month in 2022, down 0.15 percent from a year earlier, the steepest yearly decline since 2012, when the average real salary dropped 0.67 percent to NT$38,347, the data indicated.
Last year was the second in a row that real average wages were battered by inflation, with the consumer price index (CPI) growing 2.95 percent in 2022 amid a spike in food, housing and fuel costs.
Rising inflation also eroded the average monthly earnings, which consist of regular wages and nonregular wages such as overtime pay and bonuses, the DGBAS's data indicated.
Real average monthly earnings in 2022 rose only 0.48 percent from a year earlier to NT$53,741, while before inflationary adjustments, the average nominal monthly earnings totaled NT$57,718, up 3.45 percent from a year earlier, the DGBAS said.
In December alone, the average regular wage hit NT$44,955, up NT$287 or 0.64 percent from a month earlier and up NT$977 or 2.22 percent from a year earlier.
Monthly earnings per capita in December sat at NT$57,405, up NT$5,924 or 11.51 percent from a month earlier, and also up NT$1,956 or 3.53 percent from a year earlier.
The number of those employed in the industrial and service sector averaged 8.171 million in 2022, up 41,000 or 0.50 percent from a year earlier, the DBBAS said, adding that the manufacturing, healthcare, social work sectors added 10,000 workers each, while the construction engineering, support service and education sectors raised their employment by 4,000 each.
The DGBAS said that from 2010 to 2019, the number of those employed in the industrial and service sectors had risen more than 1 percent from a year earlier.
In 2020, this number fell 0.07 percent from a year earlier due to COVID-19 interruptions before recovering in 2021, when the number rose 0.21 percent year-on-year.
In December, Taiwan's export-heavy manufacturing sector reported a month-over-month fall in employment for the fifth consecutive month as weakening global demand continued to affect production, the DGBAS said.
According to the DGBAS, the number of those employed in the manufacturing industry in December fell 3,000 from a month earlier to 2.872 million.
DGBAS Census Department Deputy Director Chen Hui-hsin (???) said that the manufacturing sector had registered a fall in employment in December, indicating a slowing global economy had blunted the momentum of what is traditionally a peak season.
In addition to a fall in employment, the manufacturing industry saw the number of overtime working hours falling year-on-year for the sixth consecutive month in December, when the figure fell 2.9 hours from a year earlier, providing more evidence of the industry's worsening employment situation, the DGBAS said.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel