Nearly 7 in 10 Taiwan Workers Earn Less Than the NT$49,152 (About $1,495) Average Wage

Taiwan's average regular monthly earnings were NT$49,477 (about $1,505) in September, up 2.81% on a year earlier, yet 69.97% of employees had a regular wage below the national average across January to September. That share is measured against the nine-month average of NT$49,152 (about $1,495), and it covers January to September for all employees. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics published the data on November 11. The typical worker sits much lower, and the DGBAS median figures below show by how much. For Metaintro readers working in Taiwan or weighing an offer there, the useful step is to compare a salary with the median for its industry, not with the headline average.

How Many Taiwan Workers Earn Less Than the Average Wage?

The share was 69.99% for January to March and 70.03% for January to June, so the nine-month figure sits a little under the January to June reading.

Almost 70 percent earned less than the overall average during the first nine months, and that nine-month average sits a little below September's. The share counts employees whose regular wage was below the national average, so bonuses and overtime are left out of the comparison.

The trend has climbed for years. In the same January to September window, the share was 66.78% in 2020, 66.80% in 2021, 67.22% in 2022, 68.29% in 2023, 69.28% in 2024 and 69.78% in 2025. The share of employees earning below the average has increased every year since 2020.

Full-time employees with Taiwanese nationality show a different trend. For that group, 70.24% earned below their own average in January to September, down from 70.40% a year earlier and 70.87% in 2024.

What Did Taiwan Workers Earn in September?

The headline figure is regular pay, which leaves out bonuses and overtime. For all employees in September, average irregular earnings of NT$10,820 (about $329) came on top of regular pay, and the average total earnings was NT$60,297 (about $1,834), increased yearly by 4.83%.

Within that irregular pay, bonuses and profit-sharing came to NT$8,275 (about $252) and overtime pay to NT$2,545 (about $77) in September. Total wage covers bonuses, overtime pay and other irregular compensation.

For the full nine months, the average regular wage was up 2.93 percent, the second highest growth in 26 years and only trailing 3 percent recorded in 2025. Cumulative average earnings, comprising regular and nonregular wages, stood at NT$609,498 (about $18,537), up 4.59 percent over January to September. That cumulative figure in the DGBAS table is a nine-month total, not a monthly wage.

Employment kept growing alongside pay. At the end of September, total payroll employees were 8,637 thousand, increased by 90 thousand (or 1.05%) from a year earlier. Separately, Taiwan's September unemployment rate was 3.36% and the labor force participation rate was 59.59% that month.

The latest figures suggest a stable job market that has benefited from global AI deployment, DGBAS Census Department Deputy Director Tan Wen-ling said, according to the Taipei Times wage report.

Why Is the Median a Better Guide to Typical Pay?

With average wages easily distorted by values at the two extremes, DGBAS also publishes the median. The median provides a better indication of what a typical employee earns.

For all employees, the median regular earnings was NT$39,793 (about $1,210), increased yearly by 2.93% in September. Over January to September, the median regular earnings was NT$39,429 (about $1,199), increased by 3.04%. In September the average rose more slowly than the median.

The same gap shows up for full-time employees with Taiwanese nationality. Over January to September, their median regular earnings was NT$41,120 (about $1,251), increased by 3.36%, while their average regular earnings was NT$52,100 (about $1,585), increased by 3.21%. Even inside this better-paid group, the average sits well above what the middle earner makes in regular pay each month.

The spread is wider than the middle suggests. Among full-time employees with Taiwanese nationality, January to September regular pay at the first decile was NT$29,500 (about $897) and at the ninth decile NT$84,252 (about $2,562). The first quartile was NT$31,761 (about $966) and the third quartile NT$57,379 (about $1,745).

Why Is the Share Below the Average Still So High?

Tan Wen-ling attributed the trend mainly to changes in the composition of the workforce, saying the number of migrant workers and part-time employees has grown faster than that of full-time Taiwanese workers. She added that stronger wage increases among higher-paid employees have lifted the overall average.

Part-time pay shows why the mix matters. In September, part-time employees had a median regular earnings of NT$15,729 (about $478), decreased yearly by 1.26%, and an average regular earnings of NT$21,305 (about $648). Their average hourly regular earnings was NT$224 (about $6.81), up 3.23% on a year earlier. Across January to September, the part-time median regular earnings was NT$16,155 (about $491), increased by 2.23%.

Full-time Taiwanese employees sit above the all-employee line. Their September average regular earnings was NT$52,522 (about $1,597), increased yearly by 3.14%, with average irregular earnings of NT$11,347 (about $345) on top. Their September median regular earnings was NT$41,356 (about $1,258), increased yearly by 3.22%, and their average total earnings was NT$63,869 (about $1,942). Over a longer window, their January to September median regular earnings increased by 15.48% compared with the same period in 2020, and their average regular earnings increased by 17.51% over the same comparison.

Which Industries Pay Above the Average?

For full-time employees with Taiwanese nationality over January to September, finance and insurance had a median regular wage of NT$59,900 (about $1,822) and an average of NT$75,182 (about $2,287).

At the other end, accommodation and food services had a median of NT$35,852 (about $1,090), while support services such as security, cleaning and staffing had a median of NT$35,126 (about $1,068). Other services such as hairdressing and repairs had a median of NT$30,911 (about $940).

Manufacturing as a whole sat near the middle, with a median of NT$40,597 (about $1,235) and an average of NT$51,744 (about $1,574). The support services median rose 4.54% and the professional, scientific and technical services median rose 0.71% over the year. The gap between median and average growth also varied. In accommodation and food services the median grew 3.13 percentage points faster than the average, while in professional, scientific and technical services the average grew 2.07 points faster than the median.

How Much Are AI and Chip Jobs Pulling Up Pay?

The gains came as strong global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) hardware continued to support production at Taiwan's technology manufacturers. Over January to September, cumulative average total pay for full-time employees with Taiwanese nationality in manufacturing rose 7.30%, electronic parts and components manufacturing rose 11.35% and finance and insurance rose 6.27%. Real estate, accommodation and food, and other services all grew by less than 2%.

Factory hours tell the same story. Manufacturing employees worked an average of 17.9 hours of overtime in September, the highest for the month since records began in 1979. Electronic components industry workers logged an average of 28.3 overtime hours, the highest level for September in 47 years. In the computer, electronic and optical products industry, average overtime hours reached 17.5, the highest level for September in 23 years and an annual increase of 1.1 hours.

The boom is not spread evenly across factory jobs. At the minimum wage talks in September, employer representative Ho Yu said workers in AI-related businesses account for less than 30% of manufacturing employment, and most manufacturing workers remain in traditional industries.

Are Taiwan Wages Beating Inflation?

Yes, though by a modest margin for regular pay. After adjusting for inflation, real average monthly wages during the nine-month period rose 0.98 percent from a year earlier. Over January to September, Taiwan's consumer price index rose 1.94 percent.

Typical workers did a little better. The January to September median regular wage grew 1.08% in real terms after removing the price factor. Including bonuses and overtime, real average earnings were up 2.60 percent from a year earlier, a new high since 2015.

Hours fell even as overtime rose. In September, the average total working hours of all employees were 167.1 hours, decreased by 6.1 hours from a year earlier, while average total overtime hours were 9.1 hours, increased by 0.5 hours.

What Will the Minimum Wage Be in January?

The floor under all of this is moving up. The Minimum Wage Deliberation Committee agreed to raise the monthly minimum wage by 4.745 percent, from NT$29,500 (about $897) to NT$30,900 (about $940), and the hourly rate from NT$196 (about $5.96) to NT$205 (about $6.23). The changes were scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2027, pending Cabinet approval, when the committee met in September. On October 1, Premier Cho Jung-tai said after hearing the labor ministry's report at the Cabinet meeting that the minimum wage will rise again in 2027 at those monthly and hourly rates. He said the government has raised the minimum wage for 11 straight years since 2016, with the monthly rate up nearly 54% and the hourly rate up 71% in total. The NT$1,400 (about $43) monthly increase was among the largest in the past decade, Labor Minister Hung Sun-han said in September.

Around 2.61 million workers in Taiwan, including 414,400 migrant workers, are expected to benefit. Of those, around 1.83 million workers will benefit from the monthly wage increase and 784,600 from the hourly hike. The increases will not apply to migrant workers employed as live-in caregivers or domestic helpers, who are not covered by Taiwan's Labor Standards Act, the group left out of the new minimum.

Labor groups had pushed for more. They called for the monthly minimum wage to rise to NT$31,792 (about $967) and the hourly rate to NT$211 (about $6.42) in 2027. Tan Wen-ling linked median wage growth for Taiwanese workers to the government raising the minimum wage in recent years and employers appearing keen to raise pay to retain talent.

Labor representatives argued that the benefits of the 11.05 percent economic growth should be shared between workers and employers to the greatest extent possible, while employer representatives noted that industries in Taiwan have developed unevenly in recent years, Labor Minister Hung Sun-han said on September 24, according to the Focus Taiwan minimum wage report.

What This Means for Job Seekers in Taiwan, and What Should You Do Next?

The headline average is the wrong yardstick for most people. If your regular pay is below the nine-month average, you are in the majority of employees. For full-time Taiwanese employees, the closer yardstick is the median for your industry, such as the January to September median of NT$40,833 (about $1,242) in wholesale and retail or NT$39,614 (about $1,205) in construction.

Separate fixed pay from the extras in any offer. The September gap between average regular pay and average total pay came from irregular earnings such as bonuses and overtime. Ask how much of a package is base salary, and how much depends on overtime or a year-end bonus.

Cumulative total pay for full-time Taiwanese employees grew much faster in electronic parts and components and in finance and insurance than in real estate or accommodation and food over the nine months, so when you compare offers, check which sector the employer sits in, not only the job title. Inside one employer the mix can change too, as in Google's cut to its biggest hardware team outside the US while it expands AI work in Taipei.

If you are paid at the minimum, check your payslip against the new monthly and hourly rates once they take effect.

Lacey Kaelani, Metaintro's CEO, puts it this way: An average tells you what a country pays, not what you are worth. Find the median for your own industry, ask how much of the offer is fixed, and use those two numbers when you negotiate.

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People Also Asked

Q: What is the average salary in Taiwan?

A: In September 2026, the average regular monthly earnings of all employees was NT$49,477 (about $1,505), and the average total including bonuses and overtime was NT$60,297 (about $1,834).

Q: What is the median salary in Taiwan?

A: The median regular monthly wage was NT$39,793 (about $1,210) in September and NT$39,429 (about $1,199) in the first nine months of 2026.

Q: What share of Taiwan workers earn less than the average wage?

A: Across January to September 2026, 69.97% of employees had a regular wage below the national average, down slightly from 70.03% in January to June.

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