For the point about bonus, whether yearly or ChNYr, that should be the discussion you have with your employer. Most (not all) local firms say you’ll get 12 months of pay with +1/+2 months of bonus pay guaranteed. This can go much higher, depending on if you are in sales, or in finance industry, or in an industry that had an extremely profitable year (like shipping and airlines during COVID lockdowns).
Ask the person you are interviewing with about the exact bonus and get it in writing.
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So per exchange rate, that amount of money is pretty close to the equivalent of a 6 figure salary in the states… or just shy of one. Imo a 6 figure salary is great there, but here that amount of money is practically unheard of. You’re like in the upper 1 percent of the upper 1 percent. For comparisons sake, my meager teachers’ salary puts me in like the top 30% here iirc (it would be peanuts in the states) and my brother-in-law works 12 hours a day at a factory for a miserable 25,000 NTD a month. Now fair… you have a PhD, but this ain’t the states and surely you were aware of that when you came here. You’re just starting here and with this kind of high-powered job maybe you’ll get substantial raises in the future. If you want something higher than that, then you won’t find it in Taiwan unless you become a celebrity here.
Here is a salary graph. According to this, the average salary is in the 30-40k NTD a month range. Your proposed salary is off the chart.
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we dont know what you do, so hard to say exactly. but generally speaking yes, this is very fair compensation for TW. if you want a benchmark, this is approximately X2 of the salary of a full uni professor here.
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No, the government is more strict than the private sector in that sense. They will probably not break their SOP for you.
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Not really. if you want more money, then you can probably give lectures on the side, apply for additional government grants or maybe guide a MA student if your institution is affiliated with a university.
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Generally speaking, gov jobs used to be more secure, and have better retirement plans compared to private sector. But as you are not Taiwanese this is not relevant.
most gov employees work regular working hours without over time, but as a group leader you are expected to get the job done, even if it means staying later in the office.
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I can comment on this. I used to live in Boston where my last salaried job as a web designer paid $75k US a year (granted, this was 2017, and the same job would pay 90k-100k now).
I did a semi-scientific calculation of what my savings would look like each month if I took the same job in the following places:
Boston (assuming 95k/yr), Austin, Hong Kong, and Taipei.
The result? More or less the same.
Granted, these are based purely on my own personal calculations and not real-life experience, because I ended up moving to Kaohsiung and kept working for US-based companies, getting paid US-level salary.
I can, however, talk about my cost of living in Boston vs. Kaohsiung. I spent US$3k-4k/month (usually 4k) in Boston, and now I’m spending $1.5k USD/month here in KH while living a higher standard of living. That doesn’t even take into consideration what I spent on taxes, which was much higher in the US.
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Well, let me put it another way: If you walked around Taiwan, and walked onto a street that had 100 random people walking down it (assuming all are salaried employees i.e. no students or homemakers or business owners), you’d be lucky to find one person who makes over $200k a month. I don’t think you’ll find five.
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If there is a competing offer from the US, and it pays 3 times as much or more, then take the US job - it’s a no brainer. Taxes, health care, rent, and services will be much more expensive in the US, but standard of living and, most likely, quality of life will be better. US is huge, and there are lots of beautiful places to explore… There are more opportunities for investing and getting ahead if you are a disciplined saver, which sounds like you are. If no US jobs are on the horizon, then there is no point in comparing the two countries.
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It may be helpful as well to have a look at this very useful thread for a broader view of the salary structure in Taiwan (well at least of folks here on forumosa):
Guy
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likely true. also likely true that random isn’t the way to figure this out… I mean, you could do the same exercise at a high end -whatever- and the results would differ, because people tend to somewhat cluster by socio economic status. birds of a feather and all that.
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I know about half a dozen people in ITRI and that’s where my knowledge of government research institutes comes from. So take that into consideration.
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Some of them can remote as often as they want, depends on your specific responsibilities and your direct boss.
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None of them work more than 4-5 hours per day but they are Taiwanese so they still show up for work. If you can do remote then you could easily get away with lots of free time while “on the job”.
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Their days off start at 25 (or something like that) days a year which is really good for Taiwan.
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ITRI builds customized detached housing for its really senior employees. Been to one, very nice.
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Can make great industry connections. ITRI, NARLABS and Academia Sinica are really popular choices because they are chill and offer great connections to the industry that you can use should you want to moves into real industry.
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Could save even more then. I knew an American guy who spent less than 40k per month. It’s doable if you’re a recluse with no expensive hobbies.
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Exactly. The average household in Guanxin village in Hsinchu makes more than 3 million. It’s a bit hard to figure out individual income but still incredible data.
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I disagree but of course depends on what you consider important.
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There are a lot to consider when making such move, as you are giving up a familiar and probably comfortable life, leaving friends (and family?) behind… So it’s important to evaluate at what point your are with your career. Will moving to Taiwan help your career and your plan for the future? Is there a possibility that you will have to go home to be close to your aging parents? (It sounds more expensive than Taiwan.) Where would you like to retire? And in the worst case scenario, if things don’t pan out, say, you have to leave in a year, are you okay with the cost?
If you will eventually move back to your home country, and it sounds like your home country offers higher pay if such jobs are available, why don’t you find a job back home?
In a previous thread, you said your current salary is close to 200K/month, so this job is not much of an upgrade. Personally. I would not move to another country for so little. BTW, is the institution paying for your relocation?
If you did a random sample at a high-end restaurant or whatever, then the results would unfairly skew toward higher earners. That’s why I suggested a random sample of people in a random street. (Could include people walking, riding, and driving.) Everybody needs to travel down a street whether they are rich or poor, but only the rich would visit a high-end restaurant.
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Yes, I get that a high end place would skew the sample. A random one likely would as well. I don’t think people generally distribute randomly, so any sample in just one place is likely to give skewed results.
A random sample that is skewed isn’t sufficiently random
Edit: my bad, i should have read to the end. Your next sentence addresses this!
For public positions in Taiwan, this is (almost always?) never the case. You’re joining the public system, you should be grateful you were accepted, etc etc.
Once you’re in the system, you then get all the public sector benefits, including possibly housing, annual bonus, pension funds, etc.
Guy
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OK thanks. Will do.
I’m sorry to hear. Frugality is built into my genes. One side of my family is big and was really poor because a grandfather died young, I grew up hearing stories about how one of my uncles used to fish in rivers for food for the entire home and how one of my aunt used to be a milkmaid.
OK thank you. So my prospective boss was totally on the level when he said he had little flexibility here.
Yes, I understand it is my head on the chopping block if things don’t get done in time or God forbid there is a workplace accident. Plus it is a new country, language, customs, etc. so there are some headwinds in addition to more responsibilities. But life is growth 
Great, thank you for your elucidation!
Yes I did take a look at it. Thank you, and thank you everyone who contributed to it anonymously.
In addition to the perks you mentioned which I will raise, is asking for Google’s 20% rule acceptable in a govt. research institute in Taiwan, for me to learn new skills (e.g. Mandarin) or work on side projects?
Great point. It is hard to put a number of the value of good contacts.
I’m really trying to save less
In the end everything we have will belong to someone else…
Was just brought up to live frugally from one of my parents who had a really hard childhood.
One of the biggest factors pushing me to leave my present employer is research freedom and ownership of IP from my research.
My current arrangement with my present employer is they own ALL the IP, and they have a militant Legal Department to ensure employees (including those who recently left) comply.
Even if your research is about interstellar solar winds, and you come up with an invention about fintech during the weekend, they (claim to) own it. And they have sued former researchers for it; all the researchers sued so far have backed down and settled out of court rather than fight them. Other employees who work part time here also have an upward battle with the Legal Department to get IP developed under their new employer to be assigned to their new employer.
I expected a higher salary but as you all pointed out, my boss has limited flexibility in a government institute, cost of living in Taiwan is lower and I can still live comfortably on $200k/month. For me the deal breakers are really ownership of IP and research freedom.
Thanks, it is useful to know. Are these perks automatically granted by joining the system or should it be negotiated in prior to signing the contract?
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Yes definitely. I know one foreigner that did the exact same thing in Narlabs. Idk what percentage it came to but they attended Mandarin classes while on the job. These kind of stuff really only depend on your immediate boss.
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Uh, and company policy.