The basic salary will be increased again in 2023

        In 2022, affected by the epidemic situation and the rise of international raw material prices, Taiwan's prices will keep rising. In order to ensure the real purchasing power of basic level workers to maintain their basic lives, the government, in combination with the opinions of both labor and management, has decided to increase the basic salary from January 2023, from the current monthly salary of NTD25250 and hourly salary of NTD168, to NTD26400 and NTD176 respectively.

        This year's rise in people's livelihood prices is a great pressure on grass-roots workers. For this reason, the government decided to increase the basic wage, and the monthly basic wage was increased to NTD26400 (an increase of about 4.56%). It is estimated that 2.32 million workers (including 1.84 million Taiwanese workers and 480000 foreign workers) will benefit. At the same time, the hourly basic wage was increased to NTD176 (an increase of about 4.76%), which is estimated to benefit 570000 workers.

                The following is a summary of the FAQs on basic salary Q&A for readers:

        Q: What is the definition of basic salary? Why should we raise the basic salary?

        A: The basic wage refers to the remuneration earned by workers during "normal working hours", excluding the wage for extended working hours, and the wage for rest days, holidays and holidays. According to Article 21 of the Labor Benchmark Law, the wages shall be determined by both parties, but shall not be lower than the basic wages. The purpose is to ensure the basic livelihood of workers and maintain their substantial purchasing power.

        Q: What is the basis for the increase of basic salary?

        A: The "Basic Wage Review Committee" is composed of representatives of labor, capital, government and academia to jointly discuss whether to increase the basic wage and the appropriate range of increase according to the "change rate of consumer price index", "economic growth rate" and other economic data indicators. Minister Xu Mingchun of the Ministry of Labor said that the increase was based on the 4.8% increase calculated by the Ministry of Labor on the basis of the estimated economic growth rate of 3.76% and the annual growth rate of the consumer price index of 2.92% estimated by the General Accounting Office.

        Q: Who will benefit from the increase of basic salary?

        A: There are two types of workers who benefit directly, one is those who receive basic wages, and the other is those whose original wages are slightly lower than the basic wages. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Labor, more than 4 of the population insured with basic wages have become foreign migrant workers and migrant workers, which are the main beneficiaries of this increase. In this regard, the spokesperson of Job Seeking Network also pointed out that the main purpose of setting basic wages is to take care of marginal workers. For example, raising hourly wages can help middle-aged and elderly workers, student workers and women in secondary employment improve their economic situation; As for the monthly salary regulation, although the proportion of foreign workers and dispatched workers benefiting from the increase, driven by the price comparison effect and spillover effect, it can promote the starting salary level of social newcomers.

        Q: Is the base salary the same as the base salary?

        A: Not the same. According to Article 2, paragraph 3 of the Labor Standards Law: "Wages refer to the remuneration earned by workers for their work, including wages, salaries, bonuses, allowances and other regular payments in any name paid by time, day, month, piece, cash or in kind." The so-called base salary refers to the salary that workers receive "excluding bonus, allowance and overtime pay". In short, the salary can include the "base salary" and other bonuses and allowances that will be paid regularly every month.

        Q: Is it illegal for employers to pay less than the basic salary?

        A: If the base salary or the principal salary is lower than the basic salary, but after adding other allowances and bonuses, the salary reaches the standard of the basic salary, it does not constitute an offence.

        Q: Why did my basic salary increase, but my salary did not?

        A: Although the purpose of raising the basic wage is to ensure the basic living standard of grassroots workers, it will also increase the cost of the management. In order to keep the company profitable, employers must save expenses from other places, or pass on costs to consumers, such as shrinking content and rising prices. As a result, employees whose wages are already higher than the basic wage are easy to become the target of "saved expenses". In fact, according to the data of the Ministry of Labor, the starting salary of most wage earners exceeds the basic salary, so even if the basic salary is increased, the salary will not have a significant impact.

        (Source: Executive Yuan, Ministry of Labor)