About one fourth of workers with college or higher education earning less than NT$30,000

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/11/20
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

A private think tank in Taiwan said on Sunday that the base of “the young poor group” has been on

the increase in Taiwan in the last 10 years, with about 33 percent of workers over 30 years old currently making less than NT$30,000 (about US$ 935) a month.

The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) analyzed the government’s manpower utilization reports over the last 10 years and found that in 2005, 28.6 percent of workers 30 to 34 years old earned a salary of between NT$20,000 and NT$29,999, but the group grew to 35 percent after 10 years, indicating that young people’s salaries have retreated and more and more young people in Taiwan have become poor over the years.

The TIER also found that the salaries of young and middle-aged workers have also dwindled over the last 10 years. According to statistics, the number of Taiwanese workers over 30 whose salaries are between NT$40,000 and NT$59,999 fell one to two percentage points compared with that of 2005, and only professionals, business supervisors and managers make more than NT$60,000 a month.

In addition, in 2005, about one third of workers with college or higher education earned a salary of between NT$30,000 and NT$39,999, which has not changed much over the 10 years; however, the same demographic group making only NT$20,000 to NT$29,999 increased three percentage points, resulting in about one fourth of workers with college or higher education earning less than NT$30,000.    [FULL  STORY]