The Ministry of Labor said it would decide on a possible increase of the minimum wage next year, after seeing economic indices in the third and fourth quarter of this year. The minimum monthly wage was increased to NT$20,008 in July and labor groups have been calling for it to rise again.
Minister of Labor Chen Hsiung-wen said the ministry is considering six ways of adjusting the minimum wage. These include a formula balancing the economic growth rate against the consumer price index.
Chen said that the ministry is leaning towards using a formula that multiplies the minimum wage by one plus half of the economic growth rate. Another option would be to use the annual growth of the consumer price index multiplied by one plus half of the economic growth rate.
Using either of these two methods would result in the minimum wage rising by no more than 1.5%. But Chen said an increase would still make a big difference psychologically. He said the labor ministry must wait for more economic data before reaching a decision on whether to adjust the minimum wage.