TAIPEI: Taiwan's average real income over the first six months of 2009 fell to a level equal to what people earned back in 1996. The figures reflect corporate hiring patterns as companies cope with the global economic crisis.

Real monthly earnings (including regular and irregular income) averaged NT$42,909 ($1,305.81) in the first six months of the year. That's 6.84 percent below real earnings for the corresponding period of 2008, according to figures released by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).

The decline in real monthly earnings was the steepest fall since the government began compiling employment-related statistics in 1978.

The January-June average was about the same as the NT$42,744 recorded for the first six months of 1996, the DGBAS tallies showed.

DGBAS officials said that although the number of people employed in Taiwan has risen every month from April to July, average wages or salaries have continued to decline.

They attributed the decline to the global economic slump and the rise of unconventional employment modes, such as temporary or part-time jobs with hourly-based wages.

Cheng Chih-yu, a professor in National Chengchi University's Graduate Institute of Labor Research, said Taiwanese employers, battered by the global economic crunch, have resorted to using temporary or "dispatched" workers to lower personnel costs.

Cheng asserted, however, that negative growth in the average wage rate will not last forever.

"The negative growth nightmare will be gone as soon as the domestic economy bottoms out from its quagmire and unemployment drops," Cheng predicted.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 08/26/2009 page2)