資料來源：http://chinapost.com.tw/guidepost/topics/default.asp?id=3120&pre=1&sub=3
What do those yummy little tea eggs you buy at 7-Eleven have do to with workers, wages and the economy? Well, if you saw any of the pictures from an October protest in Taipei, you know it is quite a lot. During the demonstration, a large crowd of protesters threw literally thousands of eggs at the Presidential Office.
They were angry because the government had refused to raise the minimum wage. "OK, they want to make more money," you say, "but why the eggs?" We'll get to that later.
Employers in Taiwan, like in most countries, are required by law to pay their workers at least a certain amount of money — this is the minimum wage. In Taiwan, the minimum wage protects every full-time employee, no matter what their job is. At the beginning of the year, the minimum wage was NT$18,780 per month. Part-time workers are entitled to a minimum hourly wage, which at the start of 2012 was NT$103.
During the year, like every year, the government held discussions about how much each rate should be increased. Workers complained that with the costs of electricity and gas increasing, people working fewer hours and the price of other commodities rising, workers in jobs that pay the lowest wages were in desperate need of a pay hike. Business owners argued that, in these tough economic times, they need to keep their spending low or they may have to lay off employees.
Worker groups wanted a hike at least big enough to keep up with inflation. Inflation is when there is an increase in the cost of goods (such as food) and services (such as hiring a maid). For example, a popsicle had a price tag of NT$0.10 in 1960. Because of inflation, though, every year prices rise a little bit. Now, in 2012, a popsicle costs around NT$15 to NT$20.
WHY MORE IS LESS
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is how Taiwan's government measures inflation. Think about the things you and your family regularly spend money on — food, clothes, rent, gas for the car, bus tickets, medicine, school fees, etc. The government picks a collection of these commodities (called a "basket") and calculates how much they cost. This is done every month, and if the cost of the basket gets bigger, for example from November to December, then that means there is inflation. If the basket costs 1 percent more, the inflation rate is 1 percent.
In 2011, the CPI rose by 1.42 percent. But what about people's wages? If commodities like food and gas cost more and more, then people need more money to pay for them.
In fact, wages in many professions in Taiwan are effectively the same as they were 13 years ago. However, the prices of almost all products have increased and thus people cannot buy as much as today as they could in 1999. The sharp increase in housing prices is the most obvious example of this.
From 2007 to 2011, apartment prices in Taipei City almost doubled, according to Hua Chang-i, an adjunct professor at National Taiwan University's Institute of Building and Planning. "However, Taiwan's average income grew less than 3 percent during the same period," he noted.
資料來源：http://chinapost.com.tw/guidepost/topics/default.asp?id=3120&pre=1&sub=3
留言列表
