Taiwan trade group pushes for minimum wage hike cap
- Claire Lee
- Topics: Compensation and Benefits, Home Page - News, News, Taiwan
A Taiwanese trade group has called on the government to cap next year’s minimum wage hike at 3%, citing that increase beyond could worsen inflation and be unfavourable for private consumption.
The notion of a 5% hike to boost the monthly minimum wage to NT$26,513 (US$884) has been floated, and President Tsai Ing-Wen has she wants the figure to be NT$30,000 (US$999.60), reports Taipei Times.
Lin Por-fong, Chairman of Third Wednesday Club, highlighted that an increase of 5% would mainly benefit foreign workers as the average monthly wages of Taiwanese is higher than what the minimum wage rate would be. A bigger hike would also prompt companies to pass additional costs onto consumers, driving up prices, he said.
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In September, the Ministry of Labour will review the minimum wage for the coming year. The Minimum Wage Review Committee comprises government officials, representatives of unions and the private sector, and academics.
