The latest data published by the Executive Yuan’s Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics show that in 2018, Taiwan’s average regular earning was 40,980 Taiwan dollars per month, while the average monthly wage was 51,957 Taiwan dollars. The year over year growth was 2.57% and 3.94% respectively.

The numbers indicate our average earnings have surpassed the high-water mark of 49,989 Taiwan dollars in 2017, as lauded by Premier Lai. So, are you “leading the pack” or “lowering the bar”?

Which Tier Are You In? The Most Common Monthly Wage is 29,000 Taiwan Dollars

It’s not hard to tell if you are ahead of the curve or lagging behind. The Executive Yuan has launched an online Earnings Exploration & Information System (薪情平台) based on a survey of employee wages from 2017. One of the functions is called “Compare Salaries” (個人薪情比比看).

With this function, you can easily find which wage group you belong to. All you need to do is enter your annual salary in the appropriate slot. Your annual salary is comprised of your monthly regular earnings (e.g., base salary, allowance) and irregular earnings (e.g., annual bonuses, holiday bonuses, employee bonuses, performance bonuses, overtime compensation). The system crunches the numbers and shows where you stand compared with your fellow countrymen.

For example, Employee A makes an annual salary of 480,000 Taiwan dollars, which is about 40,000 a month. Just type in the numbers and choose to compare with “Employees Nationwide”. Click “Confirm and Send” (see screenshot).

According to the system, Employee A who makes an annual salary of 480,000 Taiwan dollars lands between segments D5 and D6. That means Employee A is doing better than 50% of all employees in Taiwan (see screenshot) and is very close to the mean.

A closer look at the graph shows that the highest number of employees is in segment D3. In statistics, this is known as the “mode.” D3 marks an annual salary of 353,000 Taiwan dollars, which means the most common wage level for Taiwanese employees is only around 29,416 Taiwan dollars a month.

What’s more, statisticians would describe this graph as a “right-skewed distribution.”

This means Taiwan’s average earning is being inflated by a very small population of very rich people.

Which Profession Makes the Most? The Answer May Surprise You

Besides learning about your own income tier on the Earnings Exploration & Information System, you can also use the “Compare by Profession” (行業薪情評高下) function to see which jobs make the most money.

Out of all the professions, workers in the electricity and gas production industries had the highest average earnings, with an average monthly wage of 94,292 Taiwan dollars. The runner-up is the finance and insurance sector, with an average monthly wage of 85,417. However, the total earning of managers and specialists in the finance and insurance sector was as high as 132,132, which was higher than the electricity and gas production industries.

Is There a Glass Ceiling in Taiwan?

The data also show that in 2017, men made an average of 54,066 per month, while women made 45,333, which was only 84% of what their male colleagues were making.

However, though men’s total earning was higher, the growth rate of women’s total earning was faster. The growth rate year over year was 2.35% for men and 2.64% for women.

Have you read?

♦ How Cheap Must Taiwanese Workers Get?

♦ How Rich Was Taiwan?

♦ ‘Farewell, Taiwan’

Translated by Jack C.

Edited by Sharon Tseng

FutureCity@CommonWealth is a sub-channel of CommonWealth. Aspired to become a communication platform for citizens, corporates, and government through reports on model cities, technology application, expert insights, and civic participation, FutureCity@CommonWealth is committed to explore the potentials of a better city life.