31% of Taiwanese earn less than NT$30,000; 10% earn over NT$61,000 per month

Of course not. But is that specific to Taiwan? I don’t think so.

Yep, just more poignant because of the lack of safety nets.

No company pays for skill and experience because they appreciate it. They pay for it because it pays them. That’s the only real “appreciation” there is anywhere.

taiwan has a lack of safety nets? its easy to get a new job (although not easy to get a good or well paid job) and most people dont have rent to pay.

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The implication that I got for your comment was that this was the fault of the person vs. the system itself. Not everyone has the interest to fill an in demand role within a semiconductor design house.These same people in almost every other country can make a comfortable if not great living. China being but one example. It’s not the same as a situation in Canada with a kid graduating with a degree in Baroque Music performance and complaining about having to live in the basement of her parents house. The positions are available and often constantly so, but the wages are depressed due to industry’s persistence on racing to the bottom.

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Most people up North, and maybe those in Taipei. The iusse is that New Taipei on it is people from the South who come to Taipei to work in 20k to 30k tops jobs…because of the uneven development of the island, jobs South pay less or are inexistent.

Indeed. But in taiwan for instance companies do not owe anything to shareholders, they just take up teh loot and dissappear across teh Strait or the Bahamas. Most businesses strive to hit the stock market IPO lottery and then spiral into oblivion. they just want that burts, fail, sell out, take over another company, wasjh rinse repeat. Ther eis no value or permanence. Moreover, the largest corporations simply do not play taxes and hold the State for ransom withteh ubiquitours “we will leave for China”. No taxes, no controls… or they take their toys and leave. Hence, the land is being destroyed, what is left for future generations are ashes.

Hence, teh 30k is just a symptom of a greater malaise.

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still, finding A job is not a problem. people can make a living. not a great living but its a better situation than my home country imo.

High salaries means trouble beating the competition on exports from other countries.

And we go back to the problem of shortsightness. It is a viciosu cycle to think that Taiwan can only be competitive in cheap stuff. Then tehr eis little investment in research and development, branding, and higher value. There is stagnation in education as creativity is discouraged as it is deemed not necessary by the market. And there is where we are now. The race to teh bottom, the limbo dance to the floor.

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It’s hilarious how the figures of these salaries report from different institutes almost never match.

I work for an international organisation dealing with regional market.

If using the internationally accepted Spud Scale index applied to Taiwan

Local organisation for local market = tiny potatoes
Local organisation for foreign market = small potatoes
Foreign organisation for local market = slightly less small potatoes
Foreign organisation for foreign market = medium size potatoes
Foreign organisation in Singapore or China for foreign/China market = medium to large size potatoes

I swear there is not even one existing position that I could step into in Taiwan for what I do (I created my last two jobs here ) but there are at least 20 potential similar level pay and roles in Singapore . They open up almost weekly from many international organisations.

Literally people in Singapore don’t know how lucky they are. They could have been born in Taiwan. I guess we have better nightmarkets though and Kenting.

Its clear to me the main problem is international companies are not investing in Taiwan.

Local salary scales are so low that you don’t have much leverage as there’s often nowhere to go to improve your pay. Government also pays pretty poorly although the benefits are sweet and give you a pension you can live on (sorry if not Taiwanese or special foreigner fuggedabout).

Where?

uk

The UK is worse? I doubt it. Italy is worse then I would probably believe it.

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The UK is in no way comparable to Taiwan , at least if you are educated that is.

uk is great huh? do you think the shitshow that was brexit happened over nothing?

people can’t get basic jobs. i would rather be able to get A job and be living at home and slowly saving money in taiwan (while down the line having your parents help you buy a house) than on the dole not being able to find a job living at home in the uk with zero future prospects. theres few things more miserable than that.

i’ve heard things are not so good in italy and spain either. from my perspective taiwanese don’t have it as bad as they make out.

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i lived in the country for 30 years, i’m qualified to speak on such matters. fair enough if you disagree with me but don’t call me uneducated.

I’m not calling you uneducated.

I’m saying that in general it’s a lot harder for relatively uneducated people to get paid well in the UK now because of automation and stagnant wage levels and zero hour contracts and immigration may be a factor too. I have read plenty on the subject and stagnant wage packets for unskilled is a problem (worldwide).

Whereas the job market, all things considered, would be a lot healthier for educated people with experience in the UK . Yes one may also face discrimination related to age or other reasons.

In Taiwan being educated still doesn’t mean you’ll earn much.

The UK has an historically low unemployment rate right now and it has scale so you can move city or region to look for a job. There’s absolutely no reason for you to be on the dole in the UK , in fact I doubt you would apply now because universal credit and privatised job welfare schemes has made thing every uncomfortable for the unemployed there.

The economy is almost three quarters service industry now. Like it or not, it’s approaching post-industrial and reliant on domestic demand to keep things going.

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