Real wages, total earnings up in first 7 months of 2025: DGBAS

Taipei, Sept. 12 (CNA) Taiwan's real regular wages and real total earnings grew in the first seven months of 2025 at the fastest pace in recent years, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said Friday.

Data compiled by the DGBAS showed that average monthly regular wages (salary and fixed allowances) grew 2.98 percent year-over-year in the seven-month period to NT$47,651 (US$6,122), the fastest rate of growth since the first seven months of 2023.

Real total earnings (salary, fixed allowances, bonuses, overtime pay, and other variable income) over the seven-month period rose 1.86 percent to NT$424,361, the fastest pace of growth since 2019, DGBAS data showed.

In July, average regular earnings stood at NT$47,891 per month, up 2.89 percent year-over-year, the data showed.

Average variable bonuses and overtime totaled NT$17,692, lifting average monthly earnings to NT$65,583, up 5.48 percent year-over-year.

In the same month, the median regular earnings stood at NT$38,291, up 2.46 percent from a year earlier, which the DGBAS said was a better indicator of how people actually felt about their pay levels.

The DGBAS said wages vary among industries, noting that in the first seven months of this year, the lodging and food/beverage industry, "other services" industry, such as hair salons and the manufacturing sector, reported lower than average regular wages at NT$34,977, NT$36,598 and NT$45,637, respectively.

By contrast, it said sectors with relatively higher wages included those in professional, scientific and technical services (NT$58,109), publishing, audiovisual and information and communications (NT$69,407), and finance and insurance (NT$70,749).

In terms of growth in average regular wages in the seven-month period of 2025, the manufacturing industry recorded the highest year-over-year growth at 3.57 percent, followed by wholesale and retail (3.56 percent), the DGBAS said.