COST OF LIVING/Year-end bonuses in Taiwan average NT$77,348 for 2023: DGBAS

Taipei, April 12 (CNA) Employees in Taiwan received average year-end bonuses of about NT$77,348 (US$2,397) for 2023, or about 1.69 months of their monthly salaries, according to the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) on Friday.

The 1.69 months were slightly higher than the 1.68 months received in 2023, and it was also the highest in nine years, the DGBAS said in presenting its annual survey on year-end bonuses in the manufacturing and service sectors.

According to the government's statistics agency, the figure includes both standard year-end bonuses and annual performance-based bonuses paid out between December 2023 and February 2024.

Chen Hui-hsin (陳惠欣), deputy director of the DGBAS Department of Census, said the slight overall increase in year-end bonuses was primarily the result of a stronger domestic service industry, fueled by brisk consumer spending post-COVID.

Employees in the accommodation and catering sector had a year-end bonus of 0.59 months of their average salaries, followed by 0.44 months in the support service industry, and 0.74 months in the arts, entertainment and leisure sector, the DGBAS survey showed.

All of those were higher than in 2022, according to the DGBAS.

Meanwhile, people working in the financial services sectors pulled in the highest average year-end bonus of 3.64 months of their average salaries.

That is equivalent to year-end bonus of about NT$251,402, Chen said, noting that the sector has consistently been a top issuer of year-end bonuses for years.

Due to weak global demand that hurt international trade, however, the average year-end bonus received by workers in the manufacturing sector for 2023 was 2.11 months, down slightly from the 2.14 months received in 2022, the data showed.

According to the survey, employees in the electronic components sector received an average of 2.76 months in 2023, compared with 2.8 months in the previous year.