‘PSEUDO-SCIENCE’:President Ma Ying-jeou’s administration increased public sector wages by 3 percent in 2011, with critics saying the move was aimed at buying votes

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 21, 2015
By: Chung Li-hua, Chen Yu-hsuan and Chen Wei-han  /  Staff reporters, with staff writer

Public sector wages and pensions are expected to get a 3 percent raise to bring them in line with average increases in the private sector, which have risen by an average of 3 percent over the past three years, according to a report published by the Executive Yuan.

Legislators and academics described the move as a “vote-buying policy.”

If implemented, the pay raise would benefit about 620,000 military personnel, civil servants and public schoolteachers, as well as the pensions of 260,000 retirees, at an estimated cost of more than NT$21 billion (US$676.1 million), according to the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.     [FULL  STORY]