Is it worth it?

You are also making close to a 6 figure salary.

NTD :joy:

IIYou have to compare like with like, that would mean Dublin with both Taipei and Taipei city. Iā€™m confident the average professionals and office worker earns a lot more in Dublin than in Taipei, in fact I know that to be true.
Also government workers including teachers would be on about twice or more of what a government worker in Taiwan would earn.

Only thing that skews the figures is the very large number of millionaires (or should I say millionaire households) in Taipei area from owning inherited apartments and of course a considerable number of business people.

Salaried workers are far better off in the PROSPEROUS parts of the west (which is definitely Ireland if you look at basket cases like Greece or Italy or Portugal) and of course minimum wages are well over double in Ireland than what they are in Taiwan. 312 ntd/hour versus 133 ntd/hour which is almost untaxed in Ireland at the minimum rate. Taiwanese also pay health and social contributions for all workers AND unemployed workers.

Thatā€™s right, if you donā€™t work you still need to pay contributions. If you stopped paying then when you try to rejoin the ā€˜jianbaoā€™ they will ask you to pay ALL of the missed monthly payments, otherwise tough luck, no jianbao card for you and your family!

Itā€™s only higher earners that start to hurt in Ireland because of punitive tax rates above 32,000 euro per year, thatā€™s peculiar to Ireland but itā€™s much better in places like the U.K

Hsinchu city and Neihu and maybe parts of Xinyi district have a concentration of relatively highly paid salary workers (due to bonuses and stock options also), but outside of those areas most people are working for peanuts.

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The Gallup poll is based on median income so it is not skewed by a high earners. The other links I posted are averages, however -according to the CIA - income inequality is at about the same level in Ireland and Taiwan: Gini coefficient for Ireland is 31.5, UK it is 33.4 Taiwan it is 33.6. So Taiwan is about as unequal with regards income as Ireland or the UK is. Link is here: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2172.html

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I am a native English speaker, I have better chinese skills than you seeing as Iā€™ve spoken it for a long ass time. I have basic spanish skills from 5 years of school education. (Not a big deal, just listed this since he listed this) I make 30,000 NTD a month. I donā€™t see what you are ranting about.

My god, I am so frustrated. In the US, I can never talk on the same frequency/mental level , whom I can never even expect to have a mature headed conversation or even talk about anything else than Hollywood movies/working out/Superbowl/any sports/fantasy sports and all that bull shit about which I do not give a flying penis!!

Edit: Forgot to notate that I have a bachelors from a top 100 School - doesnā€™t mean super much but just donā€™t want people thinking I donā€™t have a bachelors.
Also got 4 years of work experience in the states. (not English teaching)

Found the breakdown by area here: http://win.dgbas.gov.tw/fies/doc/result/104/a11/49.xls

Average household income was over a million NT per annum for all the main cities in Taiwan in 2015. The average income from salaries in Taipei is about 50% more than the general average and in Taidong its like half the general average. Take a look.

I think itā€™s kinda normal that people from the countryside donā€™t earn much. Is it not?

My recently graduated Taiwanese friends all make more than that in Taiwan (not that itā€™s good as they still make peanuts, but some do make quite a lot more than that). You should probably get a new job.

Yea. I donā€™t think Taiwan is unusual there.