Taipei, June 10 (CNA) The average monthly starting regular salary for first time jobseekers in Taiwan rose almost 2 percent year-on-year in 2016, according to the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).
The DGBAS said that the average starting salaries for first time jobseekers in 2016 reached NT$26,723 (US$888) a month, up NT$493 or 1.9 percent from a year earlier, marking the fifth consecutive year for wages to increase.
At the same time, the difference in salary between first time female jobseekers and male jobseekers narrowed last year compared to the previous year.
The DGBAS said that the average monthly starting wages for female first time jobseekers was about 98 percent of what their male counterparts received in 2016, with the difference down 0.1 percentage points from a year earlier.
Not all sectors however offered first time jobseekers a higher salary.
In 2016, first time jobseekers in the electricity/fuel supply business were paid NT$28,507 on average a month, the highest compensation in the industrial sector, but the figure was down about 2 percent from a year earlier, the DGBAS said.
The water supply and water pollution treatment business came in second in the industrial sector by giving first time jobseekers NT$27,306 on average every month, up 4.2 percent from a year earlier, the DGBAS data showed.
However, the mining business was at the bottom in the industrial sector as newcomers in the business received NT$25,281 in starting wages, the lowest level in the sector, and down 4.9 percent from a year earlier, the data indicated.
As for the service sector, first time jobseekers in the financial/insurance business were paid NT$31,025 in starting wages on average every month, the highest compensation in the sector, the DGBAS said.
First time jobseekers in the information/communications business meanwhile enjoyed the highest growth in starting salaries in 2016, with average wages growing 5 percent from a year earlier, the highest growth rate among all of the businesses in the industrial and service sectors, according to the DGBAS.
The hospitalbility/food/beverage business came in second with the growth in average starting wages at 4.4 percent year-on-year in 2016, the DGBAS said.
First time jobseekers in the service sector received NT$26,982 in monthly starting wages on average in 2016, topping the average salary of NT$26,554 paid to newcomers in the industrial sector last year, the DGBAS added.
Meanwhile, first time jobseekers with a master's degree or higher saw their investment in education pay off. They received NT$33,313 in starting salary on average in 2016, up 2.1 percent from a year earlier. The figure was NT$5,197 higher than the average starting wages given to college degree holders overall, the agency added.
