Average monthly wages rose by 2.3 percent year-on-year to NT$46,140 (US$1,465) in January, outpacing the 1.79 percent increase in the consumer price index (CPI) , the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
The January figure represented the first positive wage growth in real terms over the past three years, but it might have slipped back into negative territory last month in line with volatile inflation readings and because of the different timing of the Lunar New Year that skewed the comparison results, DGBAS Census Department Deputy Director Chen Hui-hsin (陳惠欣) said.
Holiday disruptions also explained why average total wages — including overtime pay, performance-based commissions and bonuses — registered an 18.54 percent slump from a year earlier to NT$85,796 in January, Chen said.
Photo: CNA
Some companies issued year-end bonuses in February this year, but last year, almost all distributed the money in January, creating a high comparison base, she said.
The same scenario led to a sharp 3.08 percent hike in CPI last month, as barbers, babysitters, taxi drivers and other service providers raised charges over the Lunar New Year holiday, the agency said.
It is better to combine the economic data of both January and last month to gain a better understanding of inflation and wage movements, Chen said.
The DGBAS also said the job market in January showed a mild improvement with the number of workers hired by the industrial and service sectors rising by 0.05 percent, or by 4,000 people, to 8.44 million.
Retailers, wholesale operators, hotels and restaurants hired more workers to cope with more business ahead of the holiday, the agency said.
By contrast, the industrial sector shed headcounts by 0.79 percent to cope with a slow season, it said.
The accession rate — the number of new employees added to payrolls — gained 0.17 percentage points to 2.1 percent, while the exit rate rose by 0.09 percentage points to 2.05 percent, it said.
Overtime averaged 8.1 hours for the month, up 0.6 hours from a year earlier, it added.
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