Real wages growth in Q1 2025 positive for 1st time in 4 years

Taipei, May 12 (CNA) Average regular wages adjusted for inflation rose in the first quarter for the first time in four years, Taiwan's Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported Monday.

Real average regular wages in the local industrial and service sectors, which cover basic salary and fixed bonuses and allowances, rose 0.81 percent year-over-year in the first quarter of 2025 to NT$43,450 (US$1,428) per month, DGBAS data showed.

Average regular wages before adjusting for inflation rose 3.03 percent in the first quarter to NT$47,426, according to DGBAS data.

Despite the overall gains in real wages in the first quarter, a higher proportion of employees had regular monthly wages below the national average, Tan Wen-ling (譚文玲), deputy director of the DGBAS' Census Department, told reporters at a briefing.

Five years ago, around 66 percent of employees had below-average monthly regular wages, but that figure rose to 69.77 percent in the first quarter of 2025, the highest ever, Tan said.

The growth in below-average wage earners indicated that the group of extremely high-income earners were skewing average regular wages higher and their wages were rising faster than those of more average wage earners, Tan said.

In March alone, average regular wages rose 3.15 percent from a year earlier to NT$47,525, while average variable bonuses and overtime reached NT$7,598, lifting average overall earnings to NT$55,123, up 3.09 percent year-over-year, the data showed.

In the same month, the median regular monthly wage was NT$38,111, up 3.03 percent from a year earlier, which the DGBAS said was a better indicator of how people actually felt about their pay levels.