The average real regular wage in the first six months of this year fell for the first time in six years as inflation eroded wage growth, according to the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) earlier this week.

Data compiled by the DGBAS showed that nominal regular wages before inflationary adjustments for the January-June period rose 3.02 percent from a year earlier to NT$44,262 (US$1,475), the highest since 2001.

However, after adjusting for inflation the average real regular wage fell 0.11 percent from a year earlier to NT$41,452 during the six month period, the data indicated.

During that period, average nominal monthly earnings, which are made up of regular wages and non-regular wages such as overtime pay and bonuses, rose 3.52 percent from a year earlier to NT$61,085, the DGBAS said.

However, average real monthly earnings during the six months rose only 0.38 percent from a year earlier to NT$57,206, the DGBAS added.

DGBAS Census Department Deputy Director Chen Hui-hsin (???) said although the average real regular wage has risen more than 2 percent from a year earlier in many months since October 2021, that growth has been eroded, most notably since local consumer price (CPI) growth surpassed 3 percent in March 2022, when the CPI rose 3.27 percent from a year earlier.

In June, the CPI grew 3.59 percent from a year earlier with inflation for the first six months of this year hitting 3.13 percent compared with the same period last year.

However, the fall in the average real regular wage has narrowed from minus 0.2 percent year-on-year in the first five months of the year to minus 0.11 percent in the first six months of the year, Chen said.

Since 2011, Taiwan has seen nine year-on-year drops in average real regular wages during the first six months of a year, the largest decline being 2.86 percent in the first six months of 2009, the DGBAS said.

The latest fall of 0.11 percent is the second smallest after a fall of 0.07 percent in the first six months of 2003, according to the DGBAS.

Chen said business activity in Taiwan showed signs of improving in June amid eased concerns over indigenous COVID-19 cases, which pushed up wages as well as the number of people in employment.

At the end of June, the total number of employees in the industrial and service sectors increased by 1,000, or 0.01 percent from a month earlier to about 8.142 million as select industries saw the fall in the number of workers moderate, the DGBAS said.

Taking the lodging and food/beverage industry as an example, the number of employees in the industry fell 5,000 from a month earlier in June compared with a decline of 10,000 in May, according to the DGBAS.

The wholesale and retail industry performed even better as its number of employees rose 3,000 from a month earlier in June, compared with a fall of 4,000 in May, the DGBAS said.

In the first six months of this year, the average monthly number of individuals employed in the industrial and service sectors stood at 8.15 million, up 18,000 or 0.23 percent from a year earlier.

In the six month period, the number of employees in the healthcare/social work and manufacturing segments rose 13,000 and 7,000, respectively, from a year earlier, while the number of workers in the arts/entertainment and leisure industry fell 6,000, the DGBAS said.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel