Taiwan's Cabinet approved a NT$3.5 billion (US$125.52 million) wage subsidy scheme on Thursday to help businesses affected by COVID-19 that saw steep revenue declines in September and October pay employees following the minimum wage hike next year.
Starting Jan. 1, 2022, Taiwan's minimum monthly wage will increase from NT$24,000 to NT$25,250, while the minimum hourly pay will be raised from NT$160 up to NT$168, according to a Ministry of Labor (MOL) plan approved by the Cabinet last month.
To reduce the impact of the minimum wage raise on employers, the Cabinet approved the wage subsidy scheme to support industries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year, according to Cabinet spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (???).
Under the scheme drawn up by the MOL, starting from Jan. 1 next year, businesses that saw revenue slide by at least 20 percent in September and October from the same period last year will be eligible to apply for the wage subsidies.
The amount of support will be NT$1,000 per month for each full-time employee paid monthly and NT$560 per month for each part-time worker paid by the hour for a period of six months.
Wage subsidies will be available for all employers that have been significantly impacted by COVID-19 in the service and manufacturing sectors, including those in the agriculture industry, cram schools, childcare centers, long-term care facilities, cooperatives, and the industrial sector, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).
When asked by a reporter on Thursday after a legislative meeting why only business revenue declines in September and October were used to determine eligibility for the subsidies, while conditions in May through July -- when Taiwan's domestic COVID-19 outbreak hit consumption hard -- were excluded, Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (???) said this was because the government had rolled out its COVID-19 relief package during the period from May-July.
The wage subsidy application period will end on March 31, 2022, while the subsidy plan will be in effect from January 2022 to June 2022, with the subsidies to be paid once every two months.
The government plans to allocate NT$3.5 billion drawn from the MOL's Employment Stability Fund to fund the subsidy scheme, according to Su Wen-ling (???), the head of MOEA's Department of Commerce.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel