To raise domestic pay levels and improve standards of living, the government has adjusted the national minimum wage every year since 2016. Additional measures include increasing individual income tax deductions; improving pay transparency; and raising the salaries of military personnel, civil servants and public school teachers to stimulate comparable salary increases in the private sector.
To safeguard the basic welfare of vulnerable workers, the government has approved an increase to the national minimum wage for the eighth consecutive year. Effective January 1, 2024, the monthly minimum wage rose by 37.3% from NT$20,008 (US$643) in 2016 to NT$27,470 (US$882), and the hourly minimum wage by 52.5% from NT$120 (US$3.85) to NT$183 (US$5.88). More than 2 million workers have benefited from the government's flagship minimum wage labor policy.
Increasing the national minimum wage for eight consecutive years achieved the interim objective of safeguarding the basic livelihoods of vulnerable workers. To ensure steady and transparent adjustments into the future, on January 1, 2024 a new minimum wage act came into effect, which creates a more robust adjustment review mechanism to fulfill the government's promise to protect and maintain the living standards of vulnerable workers and their families.