The number of people employed in the industrial and service sectors in Taiwan increased at the end of November 2021 for the fifth consecutive month as economic activity recovered, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said Monday.
Data compiled by the DGBAS showed the number of people employed in the industrial and service sectors totaled 8.17 million at the end of November, up 21,000 or 0.25 percent from the end of October, amid eased fears over COVID-19.
On a year-on-year basis, the number of people employed also rose 29,000 or 0.35 percent at the end of November, the data indicated.
With private consumption on the rise, the retail and wholesale industry saw an increase of about 7,000 in people employed from a month earlier at the end of November, according to the DGBAS.
Chen Hui-hsin (???), deputy director of the DGBAS census department, told reporters that the retail/wholesale, lodging and food/beverage, arts/entertainment and leisure industries, which were badly impacted by an outbreak of domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases in mid-May, show signs of recovering.
In these industries the gap in employment between the pre-outbreak situation in April and that at the end of November has gradually narrowed, Chen said.
As for the manufacturing and healthcare/social work sectors, the number of people employed in both increased by 11,000 from April to the end of November, Chen added.
In addition to the improving employment situation, average regular wages stood at NT$43,643 (US$1,575) in November, up 0.12 percent from a month earlier, and also up 2.31 percent from a year earlier, the DGBAS’s data showed.
According to the DGBAS, the tour bus and door-to-door delivery industries benefited from growing business activity and saw regular wages rise more than 2 percent from a month earlier in November.
In the same month, however, average monthly earnings, which are made up of regular wages and non-regular wages such as overtime pay and bonuses, fell 0.01 percent from a month earlier but was up 3.35 percent from a year earlier to NT$50,106, the data indicated.
In the first 11 months of last year, average monthly wages rose 1.86 percent from a year earlier to NT$43,138, while average monthly earnings rose 2.95 percent from a year earlier to NT$55,819, the DGBAS said.
However, after adjusting for inflation, average regular wages in the 11 month period fell 0.05 percent from a year earlier, marking the first decline since the first 11 months of 2016, when average regular wages dropped 0.09 percent from a year earlier, according to the DGBAS.
In the 11 month period, average monthly earnings rose only 1.03 percent from a year earlier after adjusting for inflation, the DGBAS said.
The shrinkage in real average regular wages resulted from an increase in the consumer price index, which rose 1.91 percent from a year earlier on average, Chen said.
Despite the fall in real average regular wages, average monthly earnings in the 11 months still grew, as many employers gave irregular bonuses, indicating that real purchasing power in Taiwan remains on an uptrend, Chen added.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel