Shrinking salaries upset Taiwan office workers
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-05-03 11:13
Most of Taiwan's office workers are under great pressure due to a shrinking
salary compared to their counterparts in neighboring countries or regions,
according to reports reaching here from Taipei on Tuesday.
Some 90 percent of Taiwan's office workers responding to a recent survey
conducted by the Cheers magazine said their salaries had shrunk in real terms
due to a continuous rise in consumer product prices, compared to white-collar
workers in countries or regions like Japan, Republic of Korea and Hong Kong, who
have received noticeable salary hikes in recent years.
Despite a 5.7-percent growth of Taiwan's economy in 2004, 88 percent of
Taiwan's companies did not raise workers' salaries concurrently, according to
the magazine's survey.
Taiwanese workers' salaries rose by an average of 1.3 percent in 2005, but
local people earned less in real terms with a 2.3-percent growth in consumer
prices, the magazine said, adding that decreasing salaries have become the
biggest headache for Taiwan's office workers.
Citing local government's statistics, the magazine reported that the starting
salary of Taiwan's colleges graduates in 2005 averaged at 26,000 new Taiwan
dollars (about 820 U.S. dollars) per month, lower than the figure five years
ago.
According to the Cheers magazine, information technology and science-related
university graduates in Taiwan have a better starting monthly income of up to
30,000 new Taiwan dollars while those working in tourism-related businesses,
hotels and restaurants get a monthly salary less than 20,000 new Taiwan dollars.
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