Minimum wage in Taiwan

Minimum wage in Taiwan is the lowest hourly or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers in Taiwan. It is also known as basic wage. Taiwan's basic wage system is discussed in the third quarter of every year by the Basic Wage Committees and announced and implemented by the Executive Yuan after its approval. The current basic wage in Taiwan is NT $ 19,273 (about US $ 640) per month or NT $ 115 hourly (about US $ 3.83), which was put into practice in July 1, 2014.

History

Taiwan first established a minimum wage in 1956 with the Minimum Wage Act.^[1]

In 1968, the ROC Executive Yuan issued Temporary Measures of Basic wage which regulated NT $ 600 as monthly basic wage. Meanwhile, it was the first official basic wage rule regulated by law.

In 1984, Article 21 of the Labor Standards Law provides that, "A worker shall be paid such wages as determined through negotiations with the employer, provided, however, that such wages shall not fall below the basic wage.".^[2]

In 1986, Article 23 of Minimum Wage Law,which was set up on continent December 11, 1936 and released on December 23, 1936, was abolished by legislature on November 21, and announced by President on December 3, 1986.

In 1988, after the adoption of the Regulations of Basic Wage,the Council of Labor Affairs has formulated basic wage related policy and begun to have adjustments every year. Because of the Asian financial crisis, a large number of industrial relocation and other factors, it had nearly a decade without adjusting since 1997 to 2007,the monthly wage was NT $ 15,840 at that time.

In 2007, the basic wage included holiday working hours. Hourly wage had a substantial portion of adjusted, but monthly wage only had about 9% of adjustments.

Since 2010, Basic Wage Committees, which consist of workers, employers, government representatives, take charge of the basic wage. And Executive Yuan announce and implement related policy of the basic wage.

Who can be applicable?

According to the Labor Standards Law in Taiwan, the workers who are applicable to the Labor Standards Law can also be applicable to the basic wage. And the wages that employers give to the workers can’t less than the basic wage.

The basic wage review committee in 2013

In August 28, 2013, the CLA held the 26th the basic wage review committee. They made a consensus in adjusting the hourly basic wage from 109 NTD to 115 NTD. And this resolution taking result since January 1, 2014. The other side, the basic wage per month adjusted from 19,047 NTD to 19,273 NTD. This change taking result since July 1, 2014.

And the government wants to avoid labor disputes caused by the annual committee. They set a threshold of the basic wage to reconvene the council. ( The price index must has risen over 3%. )

Recent disputes

In 2012, the Executive Yuan of Taiwan intended to attract the investment of Taiwanese in China go back to Taiwan. So it want to increase the proportions of foreign workers hired in manufacturers to above 40%. And also intent to decouple the basic wages between citizens and foreign workers.

However, some organizations had firmly opposed this policy plan. They thought this policy plan violated international conventions and value of the ILO. Once the basic wages of foreign workers be decoupled, Taiwan would be contrary to their own faith and commitment in the international arena.

Furthermore, some groups believe that the basic wages between citizens and foreign workers shall be decoupled. To avoid the high domestic wages of foreign workers make domestic enterprises flee aboard. Then cause domestic employment market shrinking, that make the citizen workers in suffer.

References