GDP growth comes first then wage increases… but when wage increases standard of living also increases 
Want to get paid more? get more skills or move to another country.
Usually GDP growth leads to wage growth, it’s been the story in Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore. For instance HK’s wages have gone up about 5% a year for the last 10 years, same with S.Korea. Taiwan has bucked that trend with a drop in wage incomes seen in many industries and that’s the real shame of Taiwan, unequal sharing of profits over these last 10 years and focus on narrow sectors of economy. Now Taiwan is a good place to do business, no doubt, but not a great place to be a worker and even skilled workers don’t get a great deal, even experienced professionals can get paid less here than China these days. We might see some wage growth as China becomes a consumer economy and increased tourism and investment from China and stabilised political situation and strengthening NTD…we’ll see.
I honestly do not care about the “unequal sharing of profits.” If you want higher wages either find a better job/move abroad or start your own business.
I do well for myself thanks, I’m talking about Taiwanese workers and relatives who are exploited for the work they put in. Taiwan’s GDP has been growing steadily over the last ten years, through thick and thin, there hasn’t been a concommitant increase in wages, that puts paid to your argument Satellite TV Junior.
And I am talking about the local Taiwanese… Don’t want to get paid crap wages? Move to another country then or start your own business.
How old are you again? Maybe your dad should reduce your allowance.
Can’t legally work in Taiwan (Parent-ARC) and I rarely ask my dad for any allowance. Besides I know the pay-rates suck in Taiwan and that’s why I’m doing the officers school in the Australian Defence Force Academy.
Right…so you know the pay-rates suck here…so you think everybody can move to another country is the answer 
Or open your own business/get a better degree that would let you move up the ladder. Or you can do volunteer military (30k NT a month). Or you can attempt to move abroad. World ain’t pretty but you just gotta make the most of a shitty situation.
Edit: If you want to bitch and moan about income inequalities for the common worker pay them more for their services then.
Takes money for either. And if you don’t have this money? Yeah, you sound about your age.
Apply for a bank loan? interest rates in Taiwan are pretty low too. Or work in a certain industry, know enough people and get enough investors.
Do what most people that comes from small towns in the US do: Join the military, save money. Besides most of your housing and food is paid for already.
Edit: If someone like Andrew Carnegie made it from rags to riches especially during his time where a lot of education/information was economically restricted to the upper class anyone can do it. It just takes the drive, skills, intellect and a bit of luck.
Now can we celebrate? Headline from the Economist, with numbers courtesy of the IMF:
Taiwan’s standard of living has just surpassed Japan’s
economist.com/node/17473187
Did Taiwan surpass Japan, or did Japan fall below Taiwan?
It’s a bogus comparison based on purchasing parity. But yes, it is Taiwan surpassing Japan as we’ve had a pretty decent year of growth. I think GDP per capita just passed US$20,000. Still almost half of Japan’s, though.
that’s a crock. Having lived in both countries, it’s a crock
Are you refering to what I said?
I think probably not as I agree with you. But they’ve defined standard of living in fairly basic economic terms. It’s not a quality of life index, though even there it’s hard to say which would come out on top given the far greater stresses and crowding in much of Japan, and the far more rigid culture. Still teen suicide is dreadfully high in both which is pretty damning by any standard.
I say we get rid of the IMF, and just use the urodacus index.
Post deleted for irrelevance
Could you elaborate a bit? I’m not tryin’ to be argumentative. I just hope you can expand on, “It’s a crock.”
I haven’t spent much time in Japan, and I haven’t spent any time there recently. I don’t think PPP is a great way of measuring purchasing power, but it’s not a total crock.
If say, you were an average Japanese worker, and worked an average hour at average pay, and you took your average self to your average market, and you bought an average bunch o’ apples, would you get a better bunch than an average Taiwanese worker/apple purchaser?
Feel free to replace apples with avocados, albacore, apartments, amusementparkentries, ataxirideacrosstown, atrainride, abowelo’rice . . .
Using figures like GDP growth only tells a small part of the story. PPP is better although it’s obviously going to be affected by quality of goods, infrastructure and services too. Income inequality is my biggest bugbear about Taiwan, a country that produces vast amounts of wealth every year, but it’s a common story around Asia. The other thing that is not quantified is quallity of life…Taiwan would rank among the top for health services, but extremely low for children’s living quality compared to European countries (IMHO). Plus having less than 1 kid per 2 adults really tells ya something…among the lowest birthrate in the world…not exactly a vote of confidence.
Having visited Japan many times the two countries aren’t even close with level of economic or societal development, Japan is post-industrial in many ways and you can see many social programs there and they debate other issues that you don’t see debated in Taiwan, Taiwan is still promoting industry and exports above almost everything else .