Taiwan’s opposition is calling on the government to raise the minimum wage after inflation last month hit a 14-year high. New Power Party lawmaker Chen Jiau-hua also wants Taiwan to enact a new minimum wage law.
Government data shows that Taiwan’s consumer price index shot up 3.59% from a year ago. That’s the fastest rise since August 2008. The quick pace is driven primarily by higher energy and food prices. They have been pushed up by Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine and Taiwan’s rainy weather, among other disruptions.
Opposition lawmaker Chen says that high inflation is particularly difficult on Taiwan’s low and middle-income families, who can barely afford the cost of basic goods like groceries and gas.
Taiwan raised its minimum wage at the beginning of this year to NT$25,250 (US$850). But Chen wants the government to go further. She is urging authorities to further adjust the minimum wage for inflation and to pass the minimum wage bill. The bill was presented to the legislature in November 2018, but it has yet to be enacted into law.