In this analysis, employee material welfare is measured by net income for the average earner, calculated from average annual wages (plus the corresponding in-work benefits) minus the corresponding income tax and social contributions, for non-elderly single-person households without children, and then adjusted for per-capita social transfers in kind (e.g., government spending on goods and services related to health, education, and other welfare programs for households). The cost of living is also taken into account. The results are quite astonishing—in 2024, Taiwan ranks among the top three countries in employee material welfare, even surpassing the United States (see Figure 1).
Keywords: average annual wages, average annual earnings, net earnings, income tax, social contributions, price level index, social transfers in kind from government, employee material welfare
§ Links:
…… Table 1. OECD-Eurostat
…… Table 2. Taiwan and Singapore
…… Appendix Table 1. Compensation of employees by industry for Taiwan in 2024
…… Appendix Table 2. Calculation for Taiwan's average annual wage in 2024
…… Appendix Table 3. Recalculated figures for employee material welfare
The corresponding figures for other economies in the Eurostat-OECD group, including Croatia, Cyprus, Malta, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and Poland, are shown in Table 2.
Due to methodological differences, median wages (or earnings) cannot be reliably compared across countries outside Europe, as the Structure of Earnings Survey (SES), conducted only in Europe, provides internationally comparable median wage data. Instead, average annual wages per employee in full-time-equivalent unit (hereafter referred to as average wages, or AW) are used. These are calculated from national accounts statistics by dividing total wages and salaries by the number of employees and converting the result into full-time equivalent terms. To perform this conversion, wages and salaries per employee are multiplied by the ratio of average usual weekly hours worked by full-time dependent employees in their main jobs to average usual weekly hours worked by all dependent employees in their main jobs. Full-time employment is defined as usual weekly working hours of 30 or more per week in the main job.
More precisely, employee material welfare is measured as the net income of an average-wage, non-elderly single adult without children, calculated using the OECD tax-benefit model and adjusted for social transfers in kind from government on a per-capita basis. This value is converted to US dollars using current purchasing power parities (PPPs) for actual individual consumption (AIC). This approach presents a different perspective from that of the household-based analysis.
Figure 1 illustrates the employee material welfare level and average annual wages, with the latter converted to US dollars using current PPPs for household final consumption expenditure (or private consumption).
Figure 2 shows net income, also converted to US dollars using current PPPs for household final consumption expenditure (or private consumption). Data on average annual wages of Eurostat-OECD countries (except Cyprus and Malta) and the OECD tax-benefit model are sourced from the OECD. (See Tables 1 and 2 for more details. Raw data and sources for Taiwan and Singapore are provided in Table 2. Average annual wages of Cyprus and Malta are calculated based on data from Eurostat.)
Figure 3 and Figure 4 demonstrate the preliminary results for 2025.
It should be noted that the original OECD data for Iceland and New Zealand refer to compensation of employees, rather than specifically to wages and salaries. Similarly, the governments of New Zealand, Taiwan, and Singapore report only compensation of employees in their national accounts, without providing precise figures for wages and salaries. In the case of Iceland, wages and salaries can be easily derived from OECD sources, as this breakdown is available in its national accounts statistics. For New Zealand, wages and salaries are calculated as compensation of employees minus employers' social security contributions, employers' pension fund contributions, and employers' imputed social contributions, the latter of which are limited to the general government sector.
(See Tables 1 "NZ" for more details.)
Taiwan:
As shown in Table 2, Taiwan's wages and salaries are calculated as compensation of employees minus employers' social contributions, which are derived from social insurance statistics, social pension statistics, and the labor compensation survey. Employee social insurance programs include National Health Insurance, Labor Insurance, Employment Insurance, Labor Occupational Accident Insurance, private school pension, Government Employee and School Staff Insurance, and Military Insurance. Social pension programs include the Labor Pension and the Public Service Pension. Other components of non-wage compensation, including defined benefit pension and non-statutory pensions, voluntary group insurance, severance pay, employee welfare funds, and other welfare benefits, are estimated using data from the labor compensation survey. (See Appendix Table 2 for more information.) Before compensation of employees for the preceding year is released by the national statistical office (typically at the end of November), the estimate is based on the growth rate of average employee compensation from the labor compensation survey (released in September), the number of employees, and data sourced from the Public Service Pension Fund statistics. Prior to the release of the labor compensation survey, the per-employee wages-and-salaries figure is estimated using the growth rate of average earnings from the earnings survey. (See Table 2 "ECS" for more information.)
Singapore:
Table 2 presents national–accounts–based figures for Singapore. In this table, Wages and salaries are calculated as compensation of employees minus estimated employer CPF contributions (see Table 2 "CPF"). Average annual wages are calculated by dividing total wages and salaries by the total number of resident and non-resident employed persons, and then converting the result using the full-time-equivalent method.
In this article, average wage figures are recalculated using updated national accounts data and employment-related statistics, including full-time equivalent conversion factors. For some countries, gaps exist between the OECD original figures and the recalculated figures (see Appendix Figure 2 in the article "National Accounts Statistics"). The discrepancy mainly reflects differences in employment data.
- In Iceland, using employment data from the official labor force survey results in lower average wage figures, suggesting that relatively lower employment figures are reflected in the OECD data.
- In Latvia, using national accounts employment data also leads to lower figures.
- See Appendix Table 3 for figures including net income (Net, USD at PPP) at the level of average annual wages (AW, recalculated), per-capita social transfers in kind (STiKs, USD at PPP) from the government, and empoloyee material welfare (EMW, Index, US=100, recalculated). (Also see Table 1 "Table 1.")
Figure 1
The average annual wages reported for New Zealand and Singapore are slightly upward-biased. This discrepancy arises because Singapore's data only accounts for the deduction of employers' statutory social contributions. Similarly, New Zealand only deducts these statutory contributions and a fraction of employers' imputed contributions within the general government sector.
Figure 2
Net income is calculated as gross income minus personal income tax and social security contributions, plus in-work benefits. The tax and social contribution rate represents this net payment (tax and social contributions minus in-work benefits) as a percentage of gross income. These figures apply to a single, non-elderly worker without children who earns the average wage. For Singapore, net income is defined as gross income (AW) minus income tax and contributions to the Central Provident Fund (CPF). Country code: See the Eurostat Website.
Figure 3
The average annual wages reported for New Zealand and Singapore are slightly upward-biased. This discrepancy arises because Singapore's data only accounts for the deduction of employers' statutory social contributions. Similarly, New Zealand only deducts these statutory contributions and a fraction of employers' imputed contributions within the general government sector. For New Zealand, wages and salaries in 2025 are esitimated applying the ratio of wages and salaries to total compensation in 2024. For Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and Taiwan, prior to the release of 2025 data on individual consumption expenditure by government (which is equivalent to social transfers in kind from government), the figure is estimated using the nominal growth rate of general government final consumption expenditure. For the United States, it is estimated using the nominal growth rate of government nondefense consumption expenditure.
Figure 4
Net income is calculated as gross income minus personal income tax and social security contributions, plus in-work benefits. The tax and social contribution rate represents this net payment (tax and social contributions minus in-work benefits) as a percentage of gross income. These figures apply to a single, non-elderly worker without children who earns the average wage. Wages and salaries for Israel, Japan, and Korea are sourced from the OECD Economic Outlook. The OECD tax-benefit model is updated for all countries except the Netherlands in the Eurostat-OECD group. For Singapore, net income is defined as gross income minus income tax and contributions to the Central Provident Fund (CPF). Country code: See the Eurostat Website.
| Component (SNA codes) | New Zealand | Taiwan | Singapore |
| D.1 Compensation of employees | Officially announced | Officially announced | Officially announced |
| D.11 Wages and Salaires | D.11 = D.1 - D.12 (D.12 = D.121 + D.122) | ||
| D.121 Employers' actual social contributions - statutory part | Estimates | Breakdown items: officially announced | Estimates |
| D.121 Employers' actual social contributions - non-statutory part | Unobserved | Estimates | Unobserved |
| D.122 Employers' imputed social contributions - Private sector | Unobserved | Estimates | Unobserved |
| D.122 Employers' imputed social contributions - General government | Not fully captured | Estimates | Unobserved |
| Restuls for AW: | Overestimation | The most robust of the three | Overestimation |
| Note: All estimates are based on their respective officially announced figures. NZ (D.121): based on sector accounts, KiwiSaver scheme statistics, and ACC rates NZ (D.122): only for GSF pension expenses TW (D.122): Items 13–15 in Appendix Table 2 (Part I) SG (D.121): estimated employer CPF contributions (lower-bound estimates) based on total CPF contributions, compulsory MediSave contributions for self-employed individuals, CPF voluntary top-ups under the Retirement Sum Topping-Up Scheme, and the age-weighted average of statutory CPF contribution rates for employers and employees | |||
According to explanations from the OECD, average wages derived from national accounts (NA) statistics may be lower than those from earnings surveys due to several factors:
- NA data include part-time employees, whereas earnings surveys may focus on full-time employees. Average wages calculated on a full-time equivalent basis are typically lower than those based solely on full-time workers.
- NA data include low-paid positions, such as apprentices.
- NA data cover all establishments, while earnings surveys may include only those with ten or more employees.
- NA data include secondary jobs (i.e., multiple job holders).
- NA data include supervisory employees who may be excluded from some surveys.
- NA data may account for wages and salaries paid to business owners, as well as undeclared earnings not captured in surveys.
The representativeness of average wages depends on the proportion of full-time employees relative to total employees. A lower proportion reduces the relevance to the majority of workers. The Netherlands exemplifies this, having the lowest proportion of full-time employees among advanced economies. In contrast, Taiwan has one of the highest proportions.
Taiwan's high material welfare is partly attributed to its low cost of living, which is significantly influenced by government interventions—such as subsidized electricity and fuel prices as well as cheap healthcare and education services.
(For auxiliary data, see Figure 5 and Figure 6.)
Figure 5
Figure 6
The Price Level Index (PLI) is defined as the ratio of the PPP for household final consumption expenditure (or private consumption) to the exchange rate, multiplied by 100. Country code: See the Eurostat Website.
| Statistical Classification of Industries | Total bill TWD, millions | Per employee TWD, thousands | |||
| NA data | Survey | NA data | Survey | ||
| Total | 11,057,527 | 7,195,218 | 1,090* | 851 | |
| ICT industry | 1,639,794 | 1,397,001 | 1,776 | 1,347 | |
| A | Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 67,183 | .. | 620 | .. |
| B | Mining and quarrying | 4,557 | 2,793 | 1,000 | 919 |
| C | Manufacturing | 3,297,516 | 2,631,648 | 995 | 920 |
| D | Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply | 54,211 | 50,255 | 1,600 | 1378 |
| E | Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities | 41,474 | 26,816 | 510 | 688 |
| F | Construction | 527,999 | 353,166 | 652 | 713 |
| G | Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles | 1,579,173 | 1,279,130 | 1,280 | 747 |
| H | Transportation and storage | 366,362 | 284,498 | 993 | 959 |
| I | Accommodation and food service activities | 369,037 | 284,488 | 597 | 532 |
| J | Information and communication | 401,971 | 318,162 | 1,500 | 1153 |
| K | Financial and insurance activities | 880,318 | 603,785 | 2,050 | 1488 |
| L | Real estate activities | 124,676 | 106,324 | 1,300 | 786 |
| M | Professional, scientific and technical activities | 349,289 | 322,718 | 1,020 | 940 |
| N | Administrative and support service activities | 296,553 | 251,443 | 980 | 567 |
| O | Public administration and defence; compulsory social security | 858,478 | .. | 1,610 | .. |
| P | Education | 750,240 | 78,083 | 1,230 | 490 |
| Q | Human health and social work activities | 583,653 | 488,978 | 1,070 | 952 |
| R | Arts, entertainment and recreation | 139,253 | 48,424 | 1,370 | 584 |
| S | Other service activities | 365,584 | 64,894 | 1,060 | 551 |
- Last updated: January 12, 2026
- Per-employee figures in the national accounts (NA) are calculated using employment data from the labor force survey (officially titled the Manpower Survey), an individual/household-based survey, and the earnings survey (officially titled the Employees' Earnings Survey), an establishment-based survey. Since the former covers citizens only, the employee count is adjusted to account for foreign workers based on data from the latter survey. Because the labor force survey excludes the armed forces, the number of employees in industry (O): Public administration and defence; compulsory social security is adjusted to include the number of military personnel as of the end of June. The number of foreign workers in industry (A): Agriculture, forestry and fishing is included in this table.
- The per-employee figure* for all industries is calculated using NA data based on the total number of employees reported in this table, which does not fully reflect the actual number of foreign workers. When foreign workers are fully included, the figure is adjusted to 1,074. (See Appendix Table 2.)
- Total compensation of employees is calculated by multiplying the per-employee figure derived from the Job Vacancy and Employment Status Survey by the number of employees reported in the earnings survey. The wage data from the Job Vacancy and Employment Status Survey are consistent with the corresponding figures in the earnings survey. However, both surveys share identical industry coverage, which is limited in scope and excludes activities classified under (A) Agriculture, forestry and fishing; (O) Public administration and defence; compulsory social security; and (P) Education, specifically institutions providing education at the primary level and above. Several other economic activities are also excluded from the surveys, as detailed below.
(G): retail street vendors
(I): food stalls and beverage stalls
(K): trusts, funds and similar financial entities, and pension funds
(Q): non-outpatient medical services within human health activities; social work activities include only childcare, elderly care, and care institutions for persons with disabilities
(R): individual creative and performance activities within creative arts, libraries and archives, and other sports service activities; limited to the commercial operations of botanical gardens, zoos, nature conservation institutions, museums, historical sites, and other similar institutions
(S): religious, professional and similar organizations, and activities of households as employers of domestic personnel - The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry comprises the following industries:
(CR) electronic parts and components manufacturing
(CS) computers, electronic and optical products
(JB) telecommunications
(JC) computer systems design and related services
| SNA codes and Items (1)–(15) for NA data | NA data | Survey | |
| Total bill TWD, millions | Total bill TWD, millions | Per employee TWD | |
| D.1: Compensation of employees | 11,057,527 | 7,195,218 | 850,784 |
| D.11: Wages and salaries = D.1 - D.12 | 9,778,905 | 6,190,846 | 732,024 |
| D.12: Employers' social contributions = D.121 + D.122 | 1,278,622 | 1,004,373 | 118,760 |
| D.121: Employers' actual social contributions = D.1211 + D.1212 | 1,187,236 | ||
| D.1211: Employers' actual pension contributions (5+6+7+10) | 492,675 | ||
| D.1212: Employers' actual non-pension contributions (1+2+3+4+8+9+11+12) | 694,561 | ||
| (1) Insured unit's contribution for National Health Insurance: Category 1 | 266,999 | ||
| (2) Labor Insurance premium receivable: insured units | 278,113 | ||
| (3) Employment Insurance premium receivable: insured units | 22,652 | ||
| (4) Labor Occupational Accident Insurance premium receivable: insured units | 8,022 | ||
| (5) Labor Pension: due amount of contribution | 302,033 | ||
| (6) Private school pension fund: school contributions and government contributions | 3,732 | ||
| (7) Revenues of the Public Service Pension Fund contributed by military personnel, civil servants, and public school teachers, and by government appropriations: government appropriations (65% of the combined total of contributions and appropriations) | 97,668 | ||
| (8) Government Employees' and School Staffs' Insurance Financial Revenue and Expenditure: government premium contributions (65% of total) | 15,698 | ||
| (9) Military Insurance: government appropriations | 3,679 | ||
| (10) Defined benefit pension and non-statutory pensions: private sector | 89,242 | ||
| (11) Voluntary group Insurance: private sector | 49,252 | ||
| (12) Employees' welfare funds: private sector | 50,148 | 44,392 | 5,249 |
| Insurance for private employees (excl. schools) (1+2+3+4+11) | 625,037 | 553,293 | 65,423 |
| Pension for private employees (excl. schools) (5+10) | 391,275 | 346,363 | 40,955 |
| D.122: Employers' imputed social contributions = D.1221 + D.1222 | 91,386 | ||
| D.1221: Employers' imputed pension contributions (15) | 23,238 | ||
| D.1222: Employers' imputed non-pension contributions (13+14) | 68,147 | ||
| (13) Severance pay: private sector | 17,130 | 15,164 | 1,793 |
| (14) Internal welfare benefits and allowances: private sector | 51,017 | 45,161 | 5,340 |
| (15) Employers' imputed pension contributions for general government | 23,238 | ||
- Last updated: August 29, 2026
- The employers' social contributions (ESCs) equal the sum of Items 1 through 15.
- Private employees (excl. schools) strictly aligns with the official survey. It excludes private school staff to maintain a clean and unpolluted welfare baseline for the imputed social contributions calculation.
- Let $P$ = pension for private employees (excl. schools), $I$ = insurance for private employees (excl. schools), $O$ = severance, welfare, and other benefits, and $N$ = number of private employees (excl. schools). Note that $P$, $I$, and $O$ are expressed as per-employee values and sourced from the compensation survey. Values for Items 10 to 12 are estimated using the formulas below.
- Item 10:
Item 10 is calculated as (P×N) minus Item 5. While Item 5 is expected to be less than (P×N), this formula applies universally, even if Item 5 is equal to or greater than (P×N), which will yield a value of zero or less.
$$\text{Item}_{10}=(P\times N)-\text{Item}_{5}$$ - Item 11:
If the sum of Items 1 through 4 is less than (I×N), Item 11 equals (I×N) minus the sum of Items 1 through 4. If this condition is not met, Item 11 is 0.
$$\text{Item}_{11}=\max \left(0,(I\times N)-\sum _{k=1}^{4}\text{Item}_{k}\right)$$ - The sum of Items 12 to 14 equals variable O multiplied by N.
$$\sum _{k=12}^{14}\text{Item}_{k}=O\times N$$ - If the sum of Items 1 to 4 is less than or equal to (I×N), the ESCs excluding Item 15 (denoted as ESC*) equal (P+I+O)×N plus the sum of Items 6 to 9.
$$\begin{align*} \text{If }\sum _{k=1}^{4}\text{Item}_{k} &\le I\times N,\\ \text{then ESC* } &= \sum _{k=1}^{9}\text{Item}_{k} + \sum _{k=10}^{14}\text{Item}_{k}\\ &= \sum _{k=1}^{9}\text{Item}_{k} + [(P\times N)-\text{Item}_{5}] + \left[(I\times N)-\sum _{k=1}^{4}\text{Item}_{k}\right] + (O\times N)\\ &=(P+I+O)\times N + \sum _{k=6}^{9}\text{Item}_{k}. \end{align*}$$ And If the sum of Items 1 through 4 exceeds (I×N), ESC* shall equal (P+O)×N plus the sum of Items 1 to 4 and 6 to 9.
$$\begin{align*} \text{If }\sum _{k=1}^{4}\text{Item}_{k} &> I\times N,\\ \text{then ESC* } &=(P+O)\times N + \sum _{k=1}^{4}\text{Item}_{k} + \sum _{k=6}^{9}\text{Item}_{k}. \end{align*}$$ - For the old labor pension scheme, Item 10 captures only its actual contributions, whereas its imputed contributions (Item 16, if applicable) remain unavailable. The imputed pension gap under the old scheme has diminished to a level that poses no material risk to the macroeconomy. Following the strict regulatory amendments in 2015, employers are legally mandated to fund any projected shortfalls each March. Consequently, what once represented a significant unrecognized liability has been substantially transitioned into actual cash contributions, ensuring that this metric no longer creates distortions in the national accounts.
- Employers' imputed pension contributions for the general government refer to the legacy (old) pension scheme and are calculated based on the Public Service Pension Fund (PSPF) final accounts and Actuarial Valuation Reports. The total imputed value is segregated and calculated independently for civil servants and education staff. The value of Item 15 is the aggregate imputed value of these two categories. For each category (i), the calculation is formulated as follows:
$$\text{Imputed Value}_{i} = \text{Payroll Base Restoration}_{i}\times \text{ANCR}_{i}\times W_{i} \times S_{i} \times δ_{i}$$ Where:
- Imputed Value: Represents the shadow value of future pension entitlements newly accrued by active personnel during the current accounting period, recorded under SNA D.122 as part of the Compensation of Employees.
- Payroll Base Restoration: Restores the aggregate gross salary base (defined as double the statutory basic salary) for all active personnel under the New Scheme. It is calculated by dividing the Actual New Scheme Fund Collections by the Statutory Contribution Rate, serving as the macro-reservoir for the estimation.
- ANCR - Actuarial Normal Cost Rate: Applies the best-estimate actuarial normal cost rate verified by institutional actuaries to value the newly accrued service costs.
- W - Demographic Filtering Factor: Represents the percentage of active personnel who still retain legacy old-scheme seniority (defined as having over 30 years of service). It calculates the dynamic ratio of qualifying staff to total active personnel, isolating the old-scheme eligible cohort from the broader New Scheme funding dataset.
- S - Salary Stratification Adjustment: Corrects the restored payroll baseline by introducing seniority-weighted salary multipliers, ensuring the calculation precisely reflects the premium earnings of the remaining old-scheme bureaucracy rather than a flat entry-level average. This adjustment splits into two empirical tracks:
Civil Servants Multiplier: Anchors the compensation grid to the dynamic headcount distribution of regular civil servants (簡薦委人員) with over 30 years of service, tracking personnel at the top of Grade 9 (薦任九職等年功頂) up through the executive roles in Grades 10–12 (簡任十至十二職等).
Education Staff Multiplier: Focuses exclusively on public school regular teachers and university professors aged 60 and above, weighting the actual headcount of senior schoolteachers (高級中等以下學校資深教師, Pay Points 650–680) against senior university professors (公立大專校院正教授, Pay Points 740–770) to filter out entry-level teaching salaries. - δ - Legacy Decay Factor: Acts as an institutional filter to isolate and deduct the rising headcount of "pure new-scheme employees" who have newly achieved 30 years of service but retain zero old-scheme eligibility. This parameter is operationally maintained at a flat 1.0 (100%) during the 110–113 cycle, as pure new-scheme personnel could not mathematically achieve 30 years of service prior to mid-2025.
- Military Personnel and Political Appointees are excluded from this model because their pension frameworks do not align with civilian bureaucracy. Military personnel follow a separate system with much shorter career lifespans due to mandatory early retirement, which disrupts the 30+ service years trajectory used for civil servants. Political appointees operate outside the regular career rank system with zero steady seniority accumulation, and their legacy retirement benefits are funded via direct budget outlays that cannot be restored using the New Scheme's standard fund collections baseline.
| Auxiliary data and the final result of calculation | Total economy | Survey coverage |
| Total number of all employees (1000 persons) | 10,295 | |
| : Private employees (excl. schools) (1+2+3-4) | 9,554 | 8,457 |
| : - Private employees with citizenships (excl. schools) (1-4) | 8,808 | |
| : - Foreign employees (2+3) | 746 | |
| : Public and school employees (4+5) | 741 | |
| (1) Employees with citizenships excl. armed forces | 9,394 | |
| (2) Migrant workers with valid employment permits | 696 | |
| (3) Work permit for foreign special professionals | 50 | |
| (4) Insured Persons of Government Employees' and School Staffs' Insurance | 586 | |
| (5) Military personnel | 155 | |
| Average usual weekly hours worked, all employed persons | 40.7 | |
| Average usual weekly hours worked, full-time employed persons | 41.5 | |
| Compensation per employee (TWD) | 1,074,044 | 850,784 |
| Compensation per employee in full-time equivalent unit (TWD) | 1,095,155 | |
| Wages and salaries per employee (TWD) | 949,848 | 732,024 |
| AW: wages and salaries per employee in full-time equivalent unit (TWD) | 968,518 | |
| Net income: gross income (AW × 100%) minus income tax and social contribution (TWD) | 913,581 | |
| - Personal income tax | 26,125 | |
| - Social security contributions | 28,812 |
- Last updated: August 29, 2026
- Private employees (excl. schools) strictly aligns with the official survey. It excludes private school staff to maintain a clean and unpolluted welfare baseline for the imputed social contributions calculation.
- Public and school employees groups civil servants, military personnel, and public and private school staff together, as their statutory insurance (which applies to civil servants and all school staff) and pension funds (which apply only to civil servants, military personnel, and public school teachers) are jointly classified under actual contributions.
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