COST OF LIVING/Carrefour Taiwan to raise wages 10% for fulltime entry-level workers

Taipei, Dec. 13 (CNA) Carrefour Taiwan is planning to raise wages for fulltime entry-level employees by 10 percent on average from January 2024 in a bid to retain workers amid a labor shortage in the local service sector, the hypermarket brand said Wednesday.

In addition to the wage hike for fulltime entry-level employees, Carrefour said, it will introduce other incentives, such as a bonus equivalent to half-a-month salary for fulltime entry-level employees and a more than 3 percent wage hike based on job performance later next year.

Carrefour said the company has a sound performance evaluation mechanism in place to protect employees' interests.

The hypermarket operator said it will provide better compensation than the Ministry of Labor has regulated to meet market standards and boost welfare and benefits for employees, referring to the government's latest hike of 4.05 percent in the minimum wage for 2024.

According to Carrefour, it plans to spend several hundred million Taiwan dollars on wage hikes and bonuses next year.

Carrefour said the increase in compensation represents an effort to make the company the top choice for those interested in joining the local retail sector.

The wage hikes were planned even though Carrefour still incurred a loss of NT$1 billion (US$31.85 million) in the first nine months of this year.

In November, food conglomerate Uni-President Group Chairman Lo Chih-hsien (羅智先) said the new management will try to ensure the hypermarket chain improves its bottom line. Uni-President Group completed its acquisition of a 49.5 percent stake in Carrefour Taiwan earlier this year to take the retailer fully under the group's corporate umbrella.

Rivals PX Mart, Simple Mart

Similar to Carrefour, PX Mart, one of the leading supermarket chains in Taiwan, said it will continue its annual wage hike program by raising employee salaries by about 4 percent on average to tackle the ongoing labor shortage.

PX Mart said there are a total of 350 store managers who receive NT$1 million in annual salary under the annual wage hike program.

Speaking with reporters, PX Mart President Tsai Tu-chang (蔡篤昌) said on Tuesday that the staff shortage at the supermarket chain's stores is currently about 20 percent, adding that the retailer has introduced an automated billing system in some of its stores to ease the impact of the labor shortage.

Meanwhile, Simple Mart, a smaller retail chain, said it will raise wages by 7 percent for store staff, 8 percent for deputy store managers and 9 percent for store managers starting from March 1, 2024 to maintain its workforce.