Only Change can Break the 22K Spell

Only Change can Break the 22K Spell
United Daily News editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
December 19, 2012

Summary: College graduates entering the workplace make a starting salary of only 22,000 NT per month. Former Vice President Vincent Siew complained. He said that it was unhealthy for industries to reduce salaries to that level. Last week one business representative attending the National Industrial Development Conference responded to critics. He said, "If they keep quarreling, even 15,000 NT will be impossible." This led some people to blast business owners as wealthy boors. This intensified the already antagonisic atmosphere. This phenomenon has people worried. A solution must be found.

Full Text below:

College graduates entering the workplace make a starting salary of only 22,000 NT per month. Former Vice President Vincent Siew complained. He said that it was unhealthy for industries to reduce salaries to that level. Last week one business representative attending the National Industrial Development Conference responded to critics. He said, "If they keep quarreling, even 15,000 NT will be impossible." This led some people to blast business owners as wealthy boors. This intensified the already antagonisic atmosphere. This phenomenon has people worried. A solution must be found.

As many as 63% of workers under 30 work temporary jobs. As many as 1.3 million people earn less than 30,000 NT a month. Twenty to twenty-four-year-olds earn an average of 22,000 NT a month. This is less than what they made 14 years ago. Many outstanding university graduates look at the 22,000 NT starting salary and seek jobs abroad. A survey by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) indicates that as many as 61.1% of those with higher educations have fled overseas. That number is the highest in the world. It is much higher than second place India at 50.9%. It confirms that low pay is a major reason for the high-level brain drain.

Salaries are essentially determined by the labor market. If the economy is bad, demand for labor is lower than the supply. Salaries will not increase. They may even fall. Young people now expect to be poorly paid or even unemployed. The average annual GDP growth rate for the past 14 years has been over 4%. Yet salaries have stagnated. University graduates making 22,000 NT a month is hardly an improvement. It is a decline. But why? The reasons are worth pondering.

Many say that higher education on Taiwan has taken a wrong turn. They say it neglects technical and vocational education. They say this has led to a surge in the number of university graduates. This has created a discrepancy between education and application. Therefore it is not easy to give them raises. But we must ask why. By itself, it fails to explain the low-wage phenomenon, which transcends the issue of academic major and employee qualifications. The real reason is Taiwan's economic development model, with its biases, business concepts, and mentality.

Over the past two decades, Taiwan's economic growth has been driven by exports. The ICT industry accounts for the lion's share. Mainland factories enabled Taiwan to operate OEM export industries. These OEM export industries emphasized low production costs and the cross-Strait division of labor. These high capital, technology-intensive, high-end production line industries employed few people on Taiwan. On the Mainland, these industries were low capital, low-tech, low-level production lines. They were labor-intensive, and made full use of cheap and abundant labor.

This mode of production created massive exports, export-based investments, and consumption. They accounted for nearly 70% of the nation's GDP growth. But they also created many conditions adverse to wage growth. One. Such industries required large amounts of domestic capital, but only small amounts of human labor. They created a small number of high-paying jobs that inflated domestic wages, but reduced the capital available for other jobs. This reduced salary levels. Two. Industries attached too much importance to cost reduction. When the Mainland offered a cheaper alternative, Taiwan production lines moved there. This led to a wave of unemployment and froze salaries. Three. Taiwan would fill orders. Production would move overseas. The ratio continued rising. Business owners made substantial profits. This made for attractive GDP growth figures. But salaries stagnated. During the 1990s salaries accounted for over 50% of GDP. By 2011 this fell to 45.7%. This is why the working class has not benefitted from long-term economic growth. This is why the 22,000 NT spell remains unbroken.

In recent years businesses have undergone a change in mindset. The domestic market is increasingly open. Businesses are increasingly competitive. In order to survive, many pinch pennies when hiring new personnel. They save wherever they can. The corporate culture once valued employees. This has changed. Many companies place too much emphasis on scale. They have replicated Taiwan's business model on the Mainland. But once they thrive in the Mainland market, they shift their emphasis accordingly. They cease investing and innovating on Taiwan. The cross-strait gap in the quality of goods and services is narrowing. This makes it harder to increase salary levels on Taiwan. The 22K figure is the distorted product of this mentality.

To break the 22 K spell, we must change Taiwan's economic growth model. Future economic growth must increase domestic demand and local content. It must reduce outsourcing and dependence on exports. It must pay more attention to the value of innovation and labor. It must reduce price competition. We must link industrial development with domestic employment. We must enhance industrial innovation and labor productivity. This will solve the predicament of low wages.

The environment is poor. Everyone must pay attention to the business community. But industries must become self-sufficient. We must transform the corporate culture. We must emphasize innovation and value employees. If we can do this, then we can boldly raise salaries or hire new, highly-paid workers. We will no longer spin our wheels at 22K. The government has a responsibility to allocate resources. It must encourage, accelerate, and drive this transformation, and break the 22 K spell.

改變才能破解二十二Ｋ魔咒
【聯合報╱社論】
2012.12.19 03:54 am

大學畢業生初入職場起薪每月只有二十二Ｋ，前副總統蕭萬長為之抱屈，指企業把薪水壓低是不健康的現象。上周全國產業發展會議一位企業界代表回應抗議者「再吵下去，連十五Ｋ都到不了」，更引發部分人士撻伐企業老闆財大氣粗，升高對立氛圍。這種現象讓人憂慮，須尋求化解之道。

台灣三十歲以下年輕打工族中高達六十三％、一百三十萬人月薪不到三萬元；二十到二十四歲平均僅二萬二千元，也就是二十二Ｋ，比十四年前還低。不少大學畢業高材生因為二十二Ｋ遠走國外找工作；經濟合作暨發展組織（ＯＥＣＤ）調查報告顯示，台灣外移人口高教育者比率達六一．一％，冠於全球，遠高於第二名印度的五○．九％，亦證實低薪是高階人力外流的重要原因。

薪資基本上是由勞動市場決定，經濟景氣不佳，勞力需求遠低於供給，薪資不但漲不起來，還可能下跌，年輕人低薪甚至失業並不意外。但是，過去十四年國內生產毛額（ＧＤＰ）年平均成長率逾四％，但薪資卻停滯不前，大學畢業生平均月薪二十二Ｋ更是不進反退，其原因為何？值得深思。

很多人指出，台灣高等教育發展偏差，忽視技職教育，導致大學畢業生數量激增，學用落差太大，因而薪資難以提高。此一理由固須重視，但並不足以解釋低薪現象幾乎是不分畢業科系及就業者素質。追根究柢，更關鍵的原因應在台灣經濟發展模式偏差及企業經營的觀念和心態問題。

近二十年來，台灣經濟成長高度依賴出口，尤其是資通訊業占多數、「以大陸為工廠」的代工出口產業，其共通特性是重視生產成本及在兩岸分工：在台灣主要是僱用人員不多的高資本及技術密集的高階生產線；在大陸則是僱用大量廉價勞工的高勞力密集、資本及技術含量低的低階生產線。

此一生產模式為台灣創造大量出口及衍生的投資及消費，對ＧＤＰ成長率貢獻高達六至七成，但也產生不利薪資成長的因素：第一，該等產業在國內佔用大量資本，卻僅使用少量人力，其創造少數高薪就業機會不足帶動國內薪資上漲，反而拉低其他勞動力資本使用量，抑低薪資水準；第二，業者太過重視成本降低，故當在大陸可覓得廉價高階替代人力時，即將部分台灣生產線轉移大陸，從而導致近年高級人力失業潮，進一步抑低薪資上漲空間；第三，「台灣接單，海外生產」比例愈來愈高，雖為企業老闆賺進可觀利潤，並美化ＧＤＰ成長數字，但薪資卻相對停滯不前，一九九○年代薪資占ＧＤＰ份額逾五○％，至二○一一年反降至四五．七％，這正是廣大「打工族」對經濟成長長期無感、也是二十二Ｋ魔咒揮之不去的原因。

另一個關鍵因素是近年企業經營觀念及心態的改變。由於國內市場日益開放，各行各業競爭日趨激烈，很多業者為求生存，對僱用人員成本錙銖必較，能省則省，過去重視員工價值的企業文化快速式微。再者，很多企業過於重視規模擴大，因而將台灣經營模式快速複製到大陸，在大陸市場茁壯後經營重心也隨之移轉，忽視在台灣持續投入與創新。在兩岸產品及服務差異性縮小情況下，台灣員工薪資水準自難提升；二十二Ｋ也是這種觀念及心態下的畸形產物。

所以，要破解二十二Ｋ魔咒，台灣經濟成長模式非改變不可，未來經濟成長要增加更多內需及「在地」成分，降低外移及對出口的依賴；要更加重視創新及勞動價值提升，減少低要素成本的競爭。若能有效連結產業發展和國內就業，提升產業創新能量和勞動生產力，低薪困境自可迎刃而解。

在大環境不佳的情況下，各界要重視企業界的心聲，但業者也須自立自強，徹底改變企業文化，重視創新與員工的價值，若能如此，就會大膽加薪或高薪聘僱新人，絕不致在二十二Ｋ打轉。至於政府的責任，就是要在制度面及資源分配上，鼓勵、加速並帶動這種改變，從根本上化解二十二Ｋ魔咒。