Taiwan's labor funds post return of 27.7% during January to May

Taipei, July 1 (CNA) Funds managed by the Ministry of Labor's Bureau of Labor Funds reported a return of 27.7 percent in the first five months of this year during a global stock market boom, the bureau said on Wednesday.

In a statement, the bureau said the accumulated gains in the value of assets in the funds' portfolios and income on investment totaled NT$2.13 trillion (US$66.77 billion) from January to May, after these funds posted NT$586.0 billion in gains in May.

As of the end of May, the combined value of the funds managed by the bureau, including the Labor Pension Fund, the Labor Retirement Fund, the Labor Insurance Fund, the Employment Insurance Fund, and the Arrear Wage Payment Fund, stood at NT$8.61 trillion, data from the bureau showed.

The five-month gains of NT$2.13 trillion translated into a rate of return of 27.7 percent.

In the five months, the Taiex, the Taiwan Stock Exchange's benchmark index, soared 54.45 percent, while the MSCI World Index rose 12.15 percent, and the Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Bond Index also gained 0.50 percent.

The bureau said 55.22 percent of its investments were made overseas from January to May, while the remaining 44.78 percent were invested in the domestic market.

The labor funds managed by the bureau have various functions, mainly aimed at helping workers. Two of the funds -- the Labor Pension Fund and the Labor Retirement Fund -- collect contributions from employers and employees every month and are managed by the bureau to boost the asset value, in a bid to help employees save and invest for their retirement.

The value of assets in the Labor Pension Fund, launched in 2015, totaled NT$5.62 trillion as of the end of May, the highest among all labor funds, and its rate of return for the January-May period stood at 27.10 percent, the bureau said.

The Labor Retirement Fund, which has been in place since 1984, had about NT$1.13 trillion in assets as of the end of May, with a rate of return of 41.75 percent for the five months, the bureau added.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Public Service Pension Fund said on Wednesday that the Public Service Pension Fund, which the bureau manages, recorded NT$313.23 billion in gains in the five months of this year, equal to a rate of return of 24.29 percent.