What ever happened to repaying parents’ kindness? A “job bank” yes123 survey sponsored by the Labor Ministry said that only a measly 1.1 percent of employed people aged 15-29 give money back to their parents, as is the tradition here (that’s a debate for another time, but I personally don’t have a problem with it – my wife is one of the 1.1 percent). The culprit is low salaries, which despite being the second-highest on record since the demographic began getting surveyed in 2006, come out on average to NT$28,925 (US$925.22) a month. A full 58% of them remain under the NT$30,000 mark.
As for specific age groups: people born in the 1970’s make on average NT$41,653 (US$1,332.35); people born 1980-1989 are making an average of NT$31,738 (US$1,015.20); and those born in the 90’s are making NT$27,084 (US$866.34). All of those numbers are up from previous years.
A miss Tsai, born in the 1980’s, said most of her friends give cash to their parents every month, but she bemoaned the fact that her parents’ pensions are worth more than her salary, saying she’d rather keep her money to pay for her own expenses for the time being.
Nice post, put those skills to work in the US and you’ll do well. Could you post the link?
Like my inlaws , they asked my wife for money straight after she finished college, she had to break it down to them that she had to save money for herself, if she gave them money, she had nothing. And yes they were both working at the time!
The current generation of baby boomers, contrary to popular belief, may have it better than the younger generation by far. it’s complex because there’s also plenty of young people who are inheriting a lot of wealth due to the inverted pyramid from lower birth rate.
This is the kind of post that brings me here. Good info!
On a side note, I know that a large majority of young Taiwanese live with their families, but how can society justify allowing housing rental costs to be so high while salaries stagnant at these levels?
But housing rental costs are actually very low in Taiwan compared to many countries in the region. Buying a house is a different story. There’s no ‘society’ here in terms of looking out for the weakest as such.
Worse: the outlook for those salaries is that they will remain stagnant, meaning 10 years from now, 20 years from now, these kids will not reach the level of income of their parents, with real estate costs absolutely beyond their reach, deteriorating living conditions and increasing inflation/cost of living.
As long as the kids are not a burden to their parents, that should be enough. Problem is, for instance, the kids will not inherit properties fairly: the property will go to the male heir, leaving women on the losing side. Not to mention people who do not have kids but huddle 40 properties. Real estate ownership is skewed.
The worst decisions was when the government instituted the 22k support for new graduates, the dropped the bar and then it takes years for them to climb up to a paltry 30k plus. 40-50 and you are starting to be a manager, 60k plus senior manager, it’s a disaster. Then they fire you when you get to 40 or 50 something and especially before they have to pay a pension.
ironically Taiwan is facing a major labour squeeze from this year, they have got away with keeping rates down by importing more and more foreign labourers…let’s see what comes next.
it has to be said though that Taiwanese need to speak more English if they wanted to attract more international companies to base offices here.
I know it’s a cultural thing to give back to your parents here, but shouldn’t it be strictly a numbers thing? If parents have more money than their children, and likely some real estate holdings as well, it makes no sense that children should still be burdened to part with some of their much needed salary. Especially considering the shockingly low average salary in Taiwan. My parents make significantly more money than I do and they own their home. It would be absurd for me to give them money. I’d help them out if they needed it with no questions asked, I’d be happy to. But what’s with the obligatory payment to parents whether they need it or not. What a burden, both financially and emotionally. I can only imagine the ribbing the kid would get if he wasn’t able to part with any money. Taiwanese parents aren’t exactly the type to let that go without a healthy dose of good old fashioned negative reinforcement.
Mmm, is that the minimum for English teachers? Aside from BA degrees, instructors muss have other qualifications, right? Also, foreign graduates from local universities can be paid 30K minimum. White collar workers must have MA and two years experience minimum.
Honestly, the salaries here for local college graduates are a disgrace, but it is even worse they have no actual practical experience on the job -not even teachers- before they set foot on the workplace. In spite of that, I still agree the graduates do get a very “unrepresentative” salary. If you add the cultural constraints -give money to your parents, get a house and a car if you want to get married, listen to authority without question making you easy prey for being cheated out of money and soul- this generation has it really bad.
Note: the salaries are a disgrace comment, like in the West, does not apply to any romantic dreamers that study non market tasty endeavors. I am looking at you, Philosophy of Ancient Times and English Medieval Feminist Literature majors. Or translators like yours truly substituted by Google machine. Market rules.
Part of the problem is the parents, who are now in their 60s and 70s. A lot of them should be retired by now, but they’re still hogging their high-paying jobs AND taking the monthly payment from their filial children. Give up your careers already, go travel the world, watch birds, grow a vegetable garden, do volunteer work, so your kids and their peers can move up the corporate ladder. :bluemad:
Thing is the payment and high life stop if they leave their jobs. Most people in my office will work until they drop dead simply because they cannot afford retirement, it is way too little what they get when they leave -some cannot keep paying the 3 house mortgage, others cannot pay for kids college tuition and parents hospice care, or simply cannot support themselves. the ones that do get enough are culturally conditioned to be “indispensable”. This is really weird as companies are looking, as said, to fire people who have been working for over 20 years in the same place so they do not have to pay their retirement dues. But then you have 80 year olds -seriously, people doing the choo choo train walk in the corridors- who are not allowed to retire as they are irreplaceable masters in their field. I don’t get it.
It’s my impression that Taiwanese retire (or force retire) often in theirs 50s. The dudes you see working till 70 and 80 are usually the 1st generation biz owners and founders addicted to work. Then a lot of people go on to taxi driving , security, poorly paid irregular hours like my Uncle in law. He works nights and had two days off at CNY. He also has heart disease and shift work is really stressful on the heart. He is another one of those stories you hear about friends ripping friends off, gambling…It didn’t need to be like that).
The city govts mostly hire contractors now, not so many sweet pensionable jobs like before. One could always apply to be a policeman…bleeurrrgggh.
from the Facebook comments…(and what he says is not an exaggeration for many workers…I know people in Miaoli who get less than 20k even IF they work overtime, they canned a supervisor who had over 20 years in the factory too so no pension …labour dept suck. The article doesn’t even touch on the rampant worker exploitation).
3萬? 有這麼多嗎??
30k, so much?
南部這邊一堆薪水都是兩萬以下的
In the south loads of jobs pay less than 20k
哪來三萬這麼高的薪水
Where did you get 30k from?
而且還是一個月208工時以上
And we work more than 208 hours for it too…
政府跟本就沒有落實勞基法兩週84工時
The govt is useless at enforcing 84 hours/2 weeks rule
真他媽的垃圾行政院
Bollocks garbage government
南部這邊一堆工作 90%都是違反勞基法的
In the south 90% of the jobs break the labour regulations
幹你娘的勞動部跟本沒在管!!
Fuck you labour dept
操你媽的勞動部!
Motherfucker labour dept
你的錢領的心安嗎??
You content to take your salary still?
當別人每天要上班10~16鐘頭時 你在幹嘛??
other people work 10-16 hours a day what the hell are you doing?
勞動部長出來面對啦!
Come out and face me
全台灣滿滿違法的廠商在那邊苦毒百性
All over Taiwan factories are breaking the law treating workers like shit
你他媽的跟我說台灣薪水有到兩萬7以上?
You motherfuckers tell me Taiwan salaries are over 70k/mth
我聽你在放屁!!
You are full of shit
兩週84工時這條一堆垃圾資方都不肯遵守
Can’t even respect the 84 hour 2 week rule…
你他媽的年終領的下去???
Where does your fucking bonus go?
幹你娘的垃圾勞動部
Fuck you garbage labour dept
幹!!!
Fuck!!!’
On the other side of the tracks…There are also a lot of spoiled young people here who never worked until they finished grad school at age 27. Along the way they took off 2 years to travel and “improve their English.” They now jump from job to job (with months off in between) as they don’t like the stress. Car and house provided by parents. Now engaged with wedding related essentials being paid for by parents. Their salaries go to buying branded goods, eating at expensive restaurants, and travel…having been to Europe, Japan (several times), several south Asian countries, and U.S. These youngsters are not making much but are spending more than they make every month (credit cards are their best friends). They have little inclination to give back to their parents and they are on a lifetime leeching plan. Well, I guess should blame the parents?
It’s all about the Pingfuchaju, these kids can live off their parents asset base cos most families only have 1 or 2 kids now and the income from assets are very lightly taxed , a few apartments rented out in Taipei and then live free of charge in parents, no pressure at all… Definitely two different trends at work here. the only place they really make money on salaries and bonuses is Hsinchu I guess.
As HH2 said, actually people retiring in their 50s is a serious societal problem. The labor force is being squeezed on both ends to an absurd degree by old people retiring young and fewer and fewer young people even being born. It’s only in those family-owned giant corporations that people stay well beyond their years. When is Morris Chang going to hand over the reigns to TSMC, for example? But that’s a problem of corporate governance and corporate sustainability; early retirement is a national problem, especially since lots of people are claiming their pensions at 55 and living well into their 80s.
Soldiers routinely retire in their early 40s, I’m not kidding you. I know one guy who has retired and is now doing an exam for another government job. A couple of years back they changed the law to give priority to civil servants pensions in case of a fiscal crisis, there is a massive wedge of people retiring over the next 10 years from the civil service and army so watch as tax laws get slowly tightened over time and taxes increase.
