Earlier in the week, committee members for the Ministry of Labor’s annual Minimum Wage Review Committee proposed a 30% increase in the minimum wage in Taiwan. For about 6 hours the issue of increasing the minimum wage was deliberated. The committee decided to implement an increase of NT$ 991 to the monthly minimum wage. It was previously NT$ 21,009, now its going to be set at NT$ 22,000. This is nowhere near the 30% increase that was proposed by some committee members; instead it is a 4.72% increase. The hourly minimum wage will also be boosted. The current hourly minimum wage stands at NT$ 133, but will be raised to NT$ 140, an increase of 5.26%. Minister of Labor Lin Mei-chu (林美珠) made the final call to set the amount at NT$22,000. These new minimums will affect 2.07 million workers in Taiwan. Local and foreign workers will be affected by the same increase.
Some members of the Taiwan Observer community have asked whether this will affect domestic caregivers. Taiwan’s Labor Standards Act does not entitle foreign nationals working as domestic caregivers in Taiwan to the statutory minimum wage that other workers receive. Unfortunately right now we don’t know whether domestic caregivers will be receiving a wage increase soon, but we will keep the community updated on any developments.
The proposed hike needs to be approved by the Executive Yuan before taking effect on Jan. 1, 2018.
Taiwan Observer 
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