Taiwan's employers to give 1.39 months of wage as year-end bonuses: Poll

Taipei, Jan. 4 (CNA) Employers in Taiwan are planning to give an average of 1.39 months of salary as year-end bonuses for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, with the financial sector appearing most generous, according to online job bank 1111.

Citing a survey conducted during Dec. 1-31, 2024 which collected 753 valid replies to its questionnaire, the job bank said employers in Taiwan seemed to give larger year-end bonuses ahead of this year's Lunar New Year holiday, up from 1.32 months of wage given last year.

The 1.39 months will hit a new high since 2011 when employers in Taiwan issued 1.41 months of wages as year-end bonuses, the job bank said.

In addition, 96 percent of the respondents in the survey said they will give year-end bonuses this year, up 10 percentage points from last year, the survey found.

The job bank said the uptrend showed an upbeat mood about the local economy, which grew by 4.17 percent in the third quarter, beating a previous estimate of 3.97 percent made by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.

According to the job bank, the financial sector is planning to give 1.97 months of salary on average as year-end bonuses, the largest amount among the major business sectors. That is up from 1.93 months last year, due to the sector's improving performance.

In the first 11 months of last year, the 14 financial holding firms posted NT$571.4 billion (US$17.32 billion) in net profit, soaring 58.8 percent from the previous year in the wake of an increase in returns from their overseas investments in a global stock market boom.

The information technology sector came in second. It plans to issue 1.6 months of wages as year-end bonuses, the job bank said, adding that a rising popularity of emerging technologies prompted the sector to boost its talent pool with 76 percent of the employees in the sector expecting their employees to get a pay raise, the job bank said.

In addition to year-end bonuses, the sector is keen to come up with other incentives such as performance bonuses and stock distributions, the job bank added.

The transportation and logistics sector took the third spot with plans to give 1.5 months of salaries as year-end bonuses this year due to an increase in demand for cargo services, which pushed up freight rates and eventually led to higher profits, the job bank said.

Market speculation arose earlier this week that Evergreen Marine Corp., the largest container cargo shipper in Taiwan, will issue 20 months of salaries on average as year-end bonuses after its net profit surged about 240 percent from a year earlier to NT$108.75 billion in the first nine months of last year.

Among employers who will not issue year-end bonuses, 24 percent of them said their operations failed to meet expectations, while an additional 12 percent said they were not happy with their employees' performance.

In Taiwan, employers usually issue year-end bonuses before the Lunar New Year holiday, which will start on Jan. 25 this year and run through Feb. 2.