Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/05/14
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan
Taipei, May 14 (CNA) The Cabinet on Monday put forward a series of proposals to increase
Shih Jun-ji (施俊吉, right) and Premier Lai Ching-te (賴清德)
the wages of low-paid workers, including hiking the minimum pay for government employees to NT$30,000 (about US$1,000) per month, encouraging or pressing private firms to follow suit, and raising the statutory hourly wage rate from NT$140 to NT$150.
The number of employees who earned less than NT$30,000 per month last year was about 3.051 million, or 34 percent of the employed population, 51.8 percent of whom were young people between 15 and 29 years old, according to a Cabinet report presented by Vice Premier Shih Jun-ji (施俊吉) at a press conference.
Atypical workers — those who have no fixed term of employment, including part-time workers, outsourced workers and workers on temporary contracts — accounted for a large percentage of the low-wage population, the report showed.
Last year, there were 805,000 atypical workers in Taiwan, accounting for 7.11 percent of the total working population, which was an increase of 155,000 from 2008, the report showed. [FULL STORY]
