COST OF LIVING/Average real regular wages down for 3rd straight year in Q1

Taipei, May 10 (CNA) Average real regular wages in Taiwan's industrial and service sectors fell for a third consecutive year in the first quarter, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said Friday.

Average real monthly regular wages in the January-March period fell 0.09 percent from the same quarter a year earlier to NT$43,099 (US$1,330) per month, after a 0.40 percent year-over-year fall in 2023 and a 0.13 percent drop in 2022, DGBAS data showed.

Before being adjusted for inflation, average regular wages rose 2.25 percent from a year earlier to NT$46,030 in the first quarter, the second highest rate of growth in six years, trailing only a 2.67 increase in 2022, the DGBAS said.

Chen Hui-hsin (陳惠欣), the deputy director of the DGBAS' Census Department, said the decline in real regular wages could be completely attributed to high inflation.

Inflation

Taiwan has faced inflationary pressures in recent years largely due to disruptions in global supply chains because of the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical unease, and trade tensions between the United States and China.

In the first quarter, the local consumer price index (CPI) rose 2.34 percent from a year earlier.

Average monthly earnings, which are comprised of regular wages and non-regular wages, including overtime pay and bonuses, totaled NT$72,263 in the first quarter, up 3.24 percent from a year earlier, the highest rate of growth since 2018, when it hit 4.16 percent.

After being adjusted for inflation, however, average real monthly earnings totaled NT$67,662, up 0.88 percent from a year earlier.

That increase reversed a 0.82 percent decline in 2023, was the second highest level in six years, trailing only a 1.54 percent rise in 2021.

Chen said domestic consumption has picked up in the post COVID-19 era, leading many domestic demand-oriented employers to issue year-end bonuses, which has pushed up average monthly earnings.

By sector

In the first quarter, average monthly earnings rose 8.27 percent year-over-year in the lodging industry and 11.57 percent year-over-year at travel and related service businesses, Chen said.

The financial/insurance and transportation/warehousing sectors recorded 10.30 percent and 5.63 percent year-over-year increases, respectively, in average monthly earnings, Chen said.

As for the export-oriented manufacturing sector, which has been hit by weakness in global demand, Chen said many manufacturers' operations were improving, but the pace of recovery remained slow.

Citing data, Chen said the number of overtime working hours in the manufacturing sector moved higher in March from a year earlier for the ninth consecutive month, but the number of employees in the sector was down by 2,000 from a month earlier and down 41,000 from a year earlier.

Starting from the second half of last year, Chen said, the electronics component sector, which includes semiconductor vendors, has benefited from a boom in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence applications.

The sector recorded a year-on-year increase in overtime working hours for the ninth straight month in March, with the number of overtime working hours hitting 24 hours, the highest level in about 14 years.

Overtime working hours

In March, average overtime working hours in the industrial and service sectors totaled 8.3 hours, up 0.4 hours from a month earlier but little changed from a year earlier, the DGBAS said.

In the first quarter, the average number of monthly overtime working hours stood at 8.1 hours, up 0.2 hours from a year earlier, the DGBAS said.

Average monthly working hours rose to 172.3 hours in March, up 36.9 hours from a month earlier as the Lunar New Year holiday fell in February. On a year-on-year basis, working hours fell 16.5 hours because of fewer working days in March 2024 than in March 2023.

In the January-March period, average monthly working hours totaled 162.2 hours, little changed from a year earlier, according to the DGBAS.

In the first quarter, the number of people employed in the industrial and service sectors totaled 8.43 million, up 17,000, or 0.20 percent, from a year earlier.

The number employed was down 0.92 percent in the industrial sector but up 0.99 percent in the service sector, the DGBAS said.